Ash Ketchum: The Child of Mew
by ShadowVulpix
Summary: Ash Ketchum. A supposedly normal kid, heading on a Pokemon journey. But of course, it isn't that simple. Can Ash keep his secret safe from the world, and yet still be able to help his friends?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello guys, this is my second story and the first with a co-writer! Come and introduce yourself!**

 **K: Hey what's up. This is xKiritox here and none of you will know me. I'm here to help Shadow with this story and maybe I'll be help in other stories *mumbles* well so long as I survive being in the same room as her. Aaannnywwayy let's get going.**

 **SV: Neither of us own Pokemon.**

 **Oh, and so you know,** "~~" **is speech,** ' _ **~~'**_ **is Pokespeech and** ' _~~'_ **is telepathy. Thoughts are in italics, like** _this._ **See you later!**

* * *

 **Prologue.**

* * *

Our story begins with a boy called Ash, and a pretty strange turn of events. Let's start with what happened. Little Ash was around two at the time, so he barely remembers these events. Sad too, as this is the same thing that turned his life completely around. A strange occurrence happened above Pallet Town, and it was one heck of a sight. Out of nowhere, the Pokemon known as Dialga and Palkia appeared and began to fight. The people of Pallet had no knowledge of these Pokemon, but as the town began to dissolve around them, the few trainers there began fighting them. It was barely causing a dent, and they kept battling. As hope was fading, Giratina appeared, again from nowhere, and caught them, making them stop fighting. Sadly, just before they were caught, Dialga used Roar of Time and Palkia Spacial Rend, ripping apart a void in the town. Ash's parents were caught by this and disappeared. At the time, no one noticed, so amazed by the sight before them. Giratina left too, and the rip was fixed by a Mew that had seen the last of the battle from the sky while passing over its favourite town in Kanto. The Mew took the form of Ash's mom, Delia, but couldn't make a replica of his dad, and it was believed, rightly, that he was killed. The Mew went into Ash's home and informed him of this occurrence. He cried for a long time, but eventually calmed down. Mew was hoping that he wouldn't ask who he was going to live with, but he did. Mew looked around the room in despair, because she didn't know. And so, she went with the safest option.

' _I'll look after you, little one. Don't worry about a thing. You'll be safe with me.'_ He nodded.

"What do I call you? What's your name?"

' _My name is Mew, but just call me Mom. Come on, go to sleep, everything will be fine in the morning and I'll always protect you. I promise.'_

* * *

 **Chapter 1.**

* * *

It was the evening of Ash's tenth birthday, and he was lying on the settee, watching the huge television set that his 'mother' had created. While his mother had the power to create anything that she wanted, she hadn't wanted to spoil her child. Mew was sure that Delia wouldn't have wanted Ash to grow up spoiled, so she made sure she didn't. She had given him a few things, most notably an extensive knowledge of different Pokemon. Ash was watching the Pokemon league finals, and was excited to see who won. He was so engrossed in the show that he didn't notice his mother walking up behind him.

"Hello Ashy. Having fun?" Ash jumped, then blushed slightly.

"Yeah. I just want to see who wins."

"Ok. I want you to go to bed after this. After all, I'm sure you want to be awake for as much of your birthday as possible."

"But Mom." Ash protested. "It's so early. What would everyone else say if I was in bed at this time?" He was quite conscious of what the others in the town would think, especially if they came to see if he wanted to play around at their houses.

"Don't worry. I'll just tell them that you in bed with a slight fever or something. It'll be fine, and I can always 'convince' them if they seem doubtful. Don't worry your little head."

"Thanks mom." Ash had always had a cool relationship with his 'mother', despite her games that she referred to as Mew Games, and her being a little playful at times. He loved it when they transformed into different Pokemon and played with other ones. Quite often they were out for days at a time, but they always said they went to visit a friend. "I'm wondering which Pokemon to pick tomorrow for my journey. Could you help mom?"

"Oh!" Mew slapped herself on the forehead. "I forgot to tell you that. You won't be starting your journey until next week. That's my present to you. Or part of it."

"What!" Ash exclaimed, shocked. "How is that a present? I've been looking forward to this for months now? How could you do this to me?" Mew giggled lightly.

"Oh, trust me. I have something special in mind for that week, and you'll be happy about it come tomorrow. Now, get back to your show. I don't want to disrupt you anymore." With that, Mew teleported herself to her room, and Ash could hear her getting a book from her shelf. Ash turned back to the T.V, greatful that Mew had paused the show during their conversation. He unpaused the show and finished watching it, but his thoughts weren't really on it. He was lucky it was being recorded, courtesy again of Mew. He was too busy thinking about what Mew had said. What had she meant by it being her present to him? She was stopping him from going on a journey, one that he'd been planning for months. What's worse, she was stopping him from going for a week. He would be spending a week doing Arceus knows what with his mom. From what it sounded like, they wouldn't be home for that week, so they would be doing something, probably in a foreign region. Maybe she would be turning them into different Pokemon to travel around the world. Now excited, Ash turned back to his show to see the ending. He switched off the T.V and went to his room, shouting to his mother as he did so. He found it hard to sleep at first, too excited thinking about what surprise his mother had in store for him. But at last, he fell asleep, and his dreams filled with Pokemon adventures.

* * *

 **Chapter 2.**

* * *

A few minutes before midnight, Mew floated from her room into Ash's. She smiled at the sight of Ash lying there, smiling slightly. It was a shame to have to do this now, and take away that innocence with the harsh reality that she was going to bring, along with the responsibilities. But with him about to start his Pokemon journey around the world, it was best to give him this now. Hopefully he didn't turn out spoiled like some of the others… Mew forced that idea aside, and promised herself that his last day would be his birthday. And that she wouldn't hesitate when the time came. Floating over with a sad smile on her face, she transformed in Delia and shook him awake.

"Ash. Wake up." He sighed and turned over. "Come on, you don't want to miss your birthday, do you?" After a few moments, Ash looked blearily at his mother, then, realising the date, hopped out of bed. "Come on, you have a few presents downstairs. I'll let you open one now, if you want." A few other legendaries had known about Mew's adopted child, and many had sent presents.

"Ok mom." Ash yawned, walking over to the stairs just outside his room. As he reached the bottom, he shouted back to his mom. "Whoa! Where did all of these come from? Are these from the others in town?" Ash hadn't known he had so many friends here. Mew giggled lightly.

"No, your friends haven't brought anything over yet. They'll be doing that later, when they come for the party. These are from some of my friends." That was the other reason for sending Ash to bed so early. Some of the others had teleported to their house to leave the gifts. Mew was almost as excited as Ash. "Well, which one will you open first?" Ash scanned the room, and picked up the one that was wrapped in little ember patterns, and seemed to glow slightly like a fire. He brought it over, but Mew used Psychic to clear a space in the centre of the room. She brought up some little pink bubbles and took a seat on one, motioning for Ash to take the other. He carefully ripped the paper, and a little card dropped out. Ash picked it up and read it aloud.

"Dear Ash, we hope you have a great birthday and enjoy your time. Hopefully Mew will bring you to meet us soon. Love, Vi and Victoria." He turned to his mom. "Is that what we're doing this week? Meeting some of your friends?"

"Well, that and… other things." Mew shifted slightly in her seat, then looked at the gift. "Well, you going to open that or let it sit there?" He picked up the box that was sitting between them. "It feels quite light." He struggled for a moment, then glanced at Mew. "Can I get a knife or something?" She quickly created a pocket knife and handed it to him. He tore into the box, and looked at what was inside. He pulled them out and laid them on the floor. It was a set of charms, and it looked like there was a hundred of them. "What the heck?" Mew saw another note on the floor and read it aloud.

"These are good luck charms. I hope they help on your journey." Mew smiled slightly. "Typical Vi." Mew muttered. "She would send a good luck charm."

"What do you mean?" Ash said. "Why would she send that as a typical gift?"

"Don't worry about it. You'll meet them later. Tomorrow, after today's party and all that."

"Ok." Ash looked wishfully at the rest of the gifts. "When can I open the rest of these?" Mew was thoughtful for a second.

"You may as well open them now. After all, it'll be easier to move all of the other things instead of moving the boxes."

"Really?" Ash's eyes sparkled, and he grabbed another box. He ripped into it and read out the card. "Dear Ash. Hope that you enjoy your birthday and that you come and visit use soon. Love from, Lena, Lucas and Lillian." He set the card down, and Mew smiled slightly at the front. The Whirl Islands from Johto. That would be another spot they would be visiting soon. "Let's open this box." Ash reached over to the knife again and tore into the box. In there was a Mystic Water. "This will be useful if I pick up a Squirtle." Ash's smile faded slightly as he remembered the delay, but was soon grinning again as Mew pushed another towards him. This was from Rila and Ryan, and had flying and dragon gems in there, which was extremely valuable.

* * *

After a few hours later, Ash had opened all of the boxes and was quite pleased at the result. There were cards and gifts all over the room, so Mew began clearing them away, putting the cards on the self and then teleporting the gifts to his room. By the time the cleanup was done, it was around 4 in the morning. Ash yawned tiredly. He didn't want to go back to bed, but he would fall asleep soon. Mew seemed to sense this, and turned.

"Sorry about the early morning Ashy. Let me fix that." Mew tapped Ash on the head and gave him a rush of energy.

"Thanks mom." Ash smiled at his parent. "What are we going to do now?"

"Well…" Mew contemplated for a little while. What should they do to pass the time? "We could watch a movie or two. Sound fun?"

"Sure!" Ash went over to the cabinet and looked over some of the movies.

"Give me a minute, I'll make breakfast. You can start without me if you want. I can watch from the kitchen." Ash nodded, and Mew walked into the kitchen and started cooking having changed to Mew to get everything easier. Ash pulled out a few movies and sat down on one of the bubbles. He chucked one into the player and waited until Mew came in with breakfast before he started. He cuddled up to Mew as the movie began.

* * *

At 12 o'clock, there was a knock at the door. Mew was in the kitchen making party food, and quickly transformed into Delia so no one saw a Mew here. She walked over to the door with a pleasant smile on her face. All of Ash's friends from the town had come to celebrate his birthday, and they stayed over. Ash opened up each of the presents, nothing as weird as the things he had gotten earlier. Mew smiled as they played together, and slipped out for a few minutes to regain her composure at his happiness. And to prepare herself for what was to come.

* * *

 **AN: That took a while. Hopefully you all enjoyed this first part of the story and want it to continue.**

 **K: Well I hope you enjoyed this story so far… well I'm just going to say this now. If anyone has read Darkfoxkit's version you should be able to guess what's going to happen, but this story is Shadow and mine's little twist.**

 **SV: And by that, he means we got the idea to do Child of Mew from Darkfoxkit, but it's our own story. We don't steal ideas. Pix and Trix will be here eventually by the way. Anyway, see you guys next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hello guys, welcome back to co-written Child of Mew! It's been a while since I wrote, though I probably uploaded quite recently.**

 **K: Yeah I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **SV: We don't own Pokemon. Never will.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3.**

* * *

Mew was only gone for a few minutes, so Ash didn't notice that she had left. He sat there with his friends, playing on different games. He friends had brought quite a lot of Pokemon stuff, believing he was starting his journey the next day. Well, he would be, just not a Pokemon journey. His journey would be with his mother, traveling to Arceus knew where. He knew they would be visiting Mew's friends, but he didn't know where any of them lived. And if Mew was teleporting them, why would it take a week? He went back to the game, making a note to ask about that later.

* * *

At around four o'clock, Ash's friends started to leave. Ash was sad to see them go, as it would be a long time before he saw them again. But as soon as the last person left, he turned to Mew.

"Mom, why is our journey taking a week? You'll have to teleport us around."

"We won't be teleporting right there, that would be intruding into their homes. We'll be teleporting near them and flying. That way they can be alerted that we're coming."

"Will you be turning me into another Pokemon to fly mom?"

"Err, sort of." Mew rubbed the back of her head in a sheepish way. "Anyway, would you like something to eat?"

"Yeah, ok." Ash was confused as to why she changed the subject so suddenly. He yawned, being awake since midnight was really taking its toll. Mew tapped him on the head again and that familiar rush of energy woke him up. "Thanks."

"If you want, you can go to bed earlier tonight. After all, we've a long journey starting tomorrow."

"Sure." Ash replied. _Though I'll probably be awake thinking about tomorrow._ Mew picked up his thoughts and giggled, having switched forms to use her psychic powers more effectively.

' _Don't worry. I can use Hypnosis to help.'_ _But it will probably do it for me._ She shook off that thought, and started grabbing things to cook. She didn't need to think like that. She'd promised herself not to hesitate, and she'd stick to that. She hoped. Mew started frying bacon and eggs, enjoying the cooking. She found it fun and quite relaxing, which was something she needed right now. Ash picked up some of the angst from his mom, and became quite worried, but calmed down as she did. He didn't like it when his mom was worried, mostly because she would never say what it was. He sat at the table, flipping through the book that Gary, his long time rival, had brought him. He had been surprised that he had even shown up, but even he wouldn't want to miss a party. He wasn't the most popular person in the town, so he didn't get many invites. Ash felt kinda sorry for him sometimes, even though he was arrogant. Mew floated a plate in front of him, sitting down as Delia and he ate happy.

"Mom?"

"Yes deary?"

"Can you explain to me what some of these things are that I got? You still haven't explained why the charms were a typical thing from your friend Vi." Mew sighed.

"Well, my friends are Pokemon after all, so being a Victini means that she has a thing about good luck."

"Wait? She's a Victini?"

"Well, yeah. I am a Pokemon, so it would make sense that my friends are legendary Pokemon too."

"Yeah. I was just surprised, that's all. Why didn't you go and introduce me to them before?"

"I was… waiting." Mew said awkwardly.

"For what?" The doorbell rang, saving Mew from answering. She went out of the room and opened the door. Ash heard a small conversation, though he didn't hear what they were saying. Mew laughed at something, then closed the door. She walked back into the kitchen holding a small box that glittered like a rainbow. "What was that all about?"

"Well…" Mew seemed to struggle to explain. "Do you remember Ilex and Celeste?"

"The Celebi and shiny Celebi? Yeah, they came to visit once."

"Well, that was Celeste. She came from home to give us Arceus' gift to you."

"Wait. One crazy thing at a time. First, Celeste's a Pokemon. How did she get here without being attacked by the trainers? And second, Arceus? Like, the GOD? Why the heck does he care that it's my birthday?" Mew sighed. It was time.

"Well, Celeste isn't a Pokemon, or not a complete one. I think I mentioned hybrids once, right?" Ash thought. She had once said that she didn't like the idea of making humans part Pokemon. "Well, Celeste, along with most of the other legendary children, are hybrids. They can swap between a human and Pokemon form, and because they are special, have the shiny colours. And as for your other question…" Mew sighed again. "Arceus knows when your birthday is, and cares, because we share the creation power. Both of us made this world together, and although most people think that Arceus made it alone, we did it together. He made the world, and I made the inhabitants. So." Mew smiled. "You going to open that?" Ash chuckled slightly, and picked up the gift. It shimmered like a glittering rainbow, and he carefully peeled the paper off. Inside the paper was a box with a huge gem in the lid. He opened it and Mew gasped. It was a small badge with a few shapes embedded in the glass.

"What's this mom?"

"That's a psychic amplifier. As its name entails, it amplifies the natural psychic powers of a person or Pokemon. That's great. They're normally quite rare. Why would he give it to you?"

"Maybe I have some psychic powers that we're unaware of." Ash said, still admiring the badge.

 _He must think that I made Ash a hybrid. Well, maybe I should have._ Mew thought. "Maybe, though I don't understand why I haven't picked them up yet. Either way, they'll reveal themselves soon enough." Mew glanced at the clock. It was only five o'clock, so there was still time. Mew had a thought. "Want to go fly?"

"Wait, really?" Ash seemed surprised. They didn't normally go flying in daylight, it was too dangerous.

"Sure. Do you?" Mew was determined to play around with Ash for one last time.

"Of course. That sounds like fun. Where are we going?"

"I hadn't really planned on going anywhere, just flying around places. Did you want to go anywhere?"

"Could we go back to Unova and explore those huge caverns that we found before?" Ash and Mew had teleported there a few weeks ago for a holiday and had discovered a huge cave. They hadn't had the time to explore it, however, because they had to leave the region because of rumours that Mew had been seen there. They were true, but she didn't want the trainers that were flooding in to hurt her child trying to catch him, or herself.

"Sure. I've been quite curious about that myself. Hopefully we can avoid the trainers. The again, we can just fly above the clouds to keep out of sight. Here, let me swap you." Mew focused her power and swapped Ash to a Mew form, identical to herself, but shiny. He even had all of her powers, so he could make himself different Pokemon, but he didn't know how to yet. ' _ **I'll have to teach you how to transform yourself soon.'**_ _Maybe too soon._ Mew thought bitterly. She pulled her tail around Ash and teleported them over to the cave. Well, actually into Lacunosa town, because she couldn't get directly to the cave. They flew up so they couldn't be spotted and then over to the cave.

* * *

 **Chapter 4.**

* * *

' _ **Wow! It's cold in here!'**_ Ash exclaimed. He couldn't feel the cold much because his mom was keeping them warm, but it was still seeping through.

' _ **I know.'**_ Mew said. She seemed to be focusing on something. ' _ **And I can feel a few presences here. A child and parent, I think.'**_

' _ **What? We should leave then. We don't want to be trespassing on a Pokemon's home. They probably aren't used to other Pokemon.'**_ Ash was always quite considerate of other Pokemon, because he knew he wouldn't like it if someone was in his home uninvited.

' _ **Yes, maybe…'**_ Mew said distractedly. She was focusing on the Pokemon that were living there. ' _ **Follow me.'**_ She floated off towards the Pokemon, with Ash floating behind. He had to keep flicking his tail to keep up with his mom, because she was flying much faster than he was. She was use to it, after all. They kept flying through the pathways that were made there, too neat to be natural. After a few twists and turns, they reached a large cavern. Mew glanced around, confused, because the signal was coming from there. Ash looked around too, amazed. The place was covered in ice and crystals. Ash floated up to the ceiling, looking to grab one out. He pulled one from the ceiling and floated back to Mew.

' _ **Look at these mom! They're so cool!'**_

' _ **Yeah, these are nice.'**_ Mew looked at it. ' _ **Now come on, let's find these Pokemon.'**_ Suddenly, two small children appeared from the hallway in front of them, a young girl of around 8, and a boy of 5.

"Are you looking for the legendary of this cave?"

' _ **Yes, we are.'**_ Ash replied. The girl stepped forward.

"We won't let you take away Memma!" The girl yelled, and flashed white with ice crystals surrounding her, and the boy did the same. When it faded, there were two shiny Kyurem standing there in their place. They both used Glaciate, and Mew threw up a hasty Protect.

' _ **We aren't here to hurt you, or your Memma. Calm down.'**_ The children kept attacking, until a deep voice called out behind them.

' _ **Kayla, Kane! Stop! Leave the Mews alone!'**_ They stopped and floated over to their dad. ' _ **My apologies for the cold welcome. We weren't expecting any visitors.'**_

' _ **Sorry about the intrusion Kyros. We didn't know that anyone lived here. Allow me to introduce my son, Ash.'**_ She turned to him. ' _ **Ash, this is Kyros. I believe we looked at the legends of Unova when we first came here a few years ago.'**_ Ash nodded. ' _ **Well, probably remember Reshiram and Zekrom, as well as Kyurem. Well here's Kyros.'**_

' _ **I had heard you had a child, but I didn't think you'd make your son a hybrid.'**_

' _ **I haven't, not yet. Maybe someday.'**_ Mew said. She nodded towards the children. ' _ **When did you get these two?'**_

' _ **I found them abandoned at my old home. At 5 and 2, I couldn't have got a human to help, or take care of them myself otherwise. They can't survive in the cold I bring. So I had to make them hybrids.'**_ Mew nodded, sympathetic. Ash floated over and started having a conversation with the children, while Mew continued the conversation with Kyros. ' _ **I'm sorry for not having a present, I didn't realise you would be coming, and couldn't send it in any way. I don't know where you live yourself, and can't exactly go to a post office to send it as the children are too young.'**_

' _ **No, no, it's fine, we understand. After all, I had to be careful leaving Ash alone when he was younger. He was only two when I got him, so for a few years Arceus took over my job while I looked after Ash. I would have made him a hybrid and brought him to the Hall with me, but I like him more as a human. Maybe someday soon, I'll swap him over.'**_

' _ **He's heading on a journey soon, and that can be pretty dangerous. My two won't be going. They don't want to, and I still need to teach them how to control their abilities properly. We naturally give off a freezing aura, which you probably noticed. In their human shape, they don't do that. Unless they get angry, then they radiate that aura and freeze everything. So I'm trying to help them control that, so they don't go freezing the world in anger.'**_ Kyros looked over to the children. Kayla and Kane had swapped back their human forms, while Ash was trying to Transform into a Kyurem himself. He chuckled, as did Mew. She looked out of the small skylight and was surprised to see that it was actually still quite early.

' _ **Maybe we should be on our way. After all, I'm doing a week-long journey with Ash so I can introduce him to some of my other friends, and he's been awake since midnight, so I should really let him sleep.'**_ Kyros looked about to reply, but was cut off by Ash.

' _ **Moooooommmm! How do I do this?'**_ Mew chuckled again, and floated over.

' _ **Here, like this.'**_ Mew then spent ten minutes teaching Ash how to Transform himself. Kayla and Kane looked interested, then Kayla went and spoke to Mew.

"If Ash here is a hybrid like us, why can't he do this yet?" Mew looked awkwardly at Ash, who grinned slightly, obviously a little confused.

' _ **Ash isn't a hybrid, sweetie.'**_

"But why not?" She questioned. "Don't you want to change him yet?" Mew looked to Kyros for help.

' _ **Ok you too, that's enough. Don't keep badgering the Creator about all this.'**_

"Ok Memma." She said cheerily. She hopped over to her dad, with her younger brother following. Kyros gave Mew and Ash an apologetic grin.

' _ **We should get going. It was nice seeing you again Kyros.'**_ Mew waved and flew out, Ash dashing behind. When the left the cave, she wrapped her tail around him again and teleported.

* * *

Once they were home, Mew turned Ash back into a human. It was now six o'clock, and Ash was yawning again.

' _Right Ash, time for bed. I've got to give you your present now.'_

"What is it?" Ash was excited again.

' _Now, that would ruin the surprise. You go get ready, and I'll be up in a minute.'_

"Ok!" Ash dashed upstairs, and Mew could hear him running around his bedroom. She smiled. _Such a shame._ She thought. _Such a huge shame._ She left him alone for a few minutes as she gathered her thoughts. After she heard Ash settle down, she floated up the stairs and into his room.

' _Ready little Ashy?'_

"Yup!" Ash was acting like a small child. "Where is it?"

' _I'm going to give it to you now.'_ Mew focused her power into a small orb, which floated between them. She tapped the orb, and started speaking in Pokespeech. Ash had no clue what she was saying. But after a few moments, the orb glowed between pink and blue and flew into Ash's chest. A flash of white occured and when it disappeared, Ash was passed out on the bed. He started to glow white, and pink bubbles surrounded him. Mew sighed. Now it was done, and Ash was turned into…

* * *

 **AN: Haha, cliffhanger! You probably know what the end of that sentence is…**

 **K: Unless you're stupid.**

 **SV: Shut up Ki. But I've been hinting at it since the beginning, so it should be obvious. And by the way, I had the two of them both be creators, as Mew is the original, but Arceus was the original to me, as I started in gen 4.**

 **K: Any idea where your two friends are?**

 **SV: They're at home, visiting family. They'll be here later. See you all in two weeks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hello guys, we're back!**

 **K: Time to move that cliffy we ended with.**

 **SV: Yeah. You've had a while to figure it out, and you really should know because I've been leaving hints like crazy.**

 **K: Neither of us own Pokemon.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5.**

* * *

… a little baby blue Mew. Yeah, he was now a hybrid. He snored slightly, and Mew giggled. When he woke up, he would probably go mad at her. But for now… she leaned over and gave him a hug.

' _ **Night night, little Ashy.'**_ Mew teleported herself to her room and curled up on her bed. _I really hope Ash isn't too mad at me._ She thought worriedly as she dozed off.

* * *

Ash woke up at around eight the next day. His mom was already downstairs cooking breakfast, knowing Ash would be hungry. Hybrids gobbled a lot of energy at first, but soon were back to normal. Mew was singing lightly downstairs. Ash was well aware of the fact his mother liked to sing when she was cooking breakfast, because Ash was only sometimes awake when she was. She always sung in Pokespeech, and Ash had never learned it, mostly because she never taught him. Mew was normally her human form, speaking in human language, or he was in a Pokemon form thanks to Mew, so he naturally understood it. But strangely, today she was singing in human speech, because Ash could understand her. He didn't know the words, but he could understand her singing. Ash yawned, and rolled out of bed, flipping the right way up as he went. He ended up floating.

' _ **What in the Distortion World is this!'**_ Ash screamed. _It must be a dream._ He thought feverently. _This is a weird dream and I'll wake up in a second._

* * *

Mew heard him scream. _Oh great._ She thought. _He's going to be so mad._ She moved the food she was cooking onto a plate, luckily she was done, and put it onto the table. She floated up the stairs, giving Ash time to calm done. Hopefully he wouldn't be too mad at her for this. She poked her head around the door, and saw Ash was spinning in a circle trying to look at himself. He had apparently forgotten about the mirror.

' _ **Everything alright Ashy? I heard you scream.'**_ He stared at his parent like she was crazy.

' _ **What do you mean is everything alright? I'm a Mew!'**_

' _ **Yes, yes you are. A shiny, if you hadn't noticed.'**_

' _ **Wait… so am I a hybrid? I didn't think you wanted me to become one?'**_

' _ **I didn't, but I decided I would. That's one of the main reasons we have this week off your journey. To teach you your powers. I'll do my best to teach you this.'**_

' _ **Ok mom.'**_ Ash had calmed down now. ' _ **Shall we do that today then?'**_

' _ **Of course. Let's go.'**_ Mew began to fly downstairs. ' _ **But first, breakfast! Transform back to a human and let's go.'**_ She swapped back to Delia. "Just focus. You can use your powers as a hybrid to change from this form and look human. Think about your human shape." Ash focused for a second, and was cloaked in that white light and a few small bubbles before it lifted, revealing Ash.

"That's cool!" Ash said. "This is pretty awesome. Why didn't you do it earlier?"

"I didn't want you to grow up spoiled. A few of the others are a little spoiled from their powers, but most bare it well." Ash nodded. They walked downstairs and ate breakfast in silence. Mew stood and transformed, beckoning for Ash to follow.

'Where are we going?'

'Training.' Mew said simply, before flying out into the back garden and towards the forest.

* * *

 **Chapter 6.**

* * *

They spent the entire day teaching Ash how to work his powers. When they flew back, Ash just teleported straight to his room and fell asleep. Mew giggled. She knew it would tire him out, it had been tiring for her too. She teleported to her room and went to sleep planning out their journey for tomorrow. That would be a long and tiring trip for both of them. Hopefully the others would be happy to see her and Ash, and that they would sense them flying to their home quickly. Mew snuggled into the bed and sighed, choosing to worry about that tomorrow as she fell asleep.

* * *

Ash woke up that morning, and for a moment shocked himself seeing his tail. Then he remembered about becoming a hybrid. Floating up, he teleported downstairs into the living room. Mew was floating in the kitchen cooking, and waved when he came in.

' _ **Hi Ashy. Had a good night?**_

' _ **Yeah.'**_ Ash said as he swapped back to his human form. "We've starting our journey today, right?"

' _ **Yep.'**_ Mew replied, bringing their breakfast over to the table, swapped to Delia and sat down too. "Hope you're ready to meet some of my friends."

"Where are we going to be heading?"

"Well, a few of my friends live in pretty weird places. And," Mew looked at her calender. "We won't be able to meet Jasmine. She'll be asleep again by now. Maybe next year."

"Who's Jasmine? What do you mean by 'asleep'?"

"Jasmine is a Jirachi. She sent the book of slips with the Hoenn Meteor Shower on. She used to sleep for a thousand years because of a serious injury. That's how it had to be, otherwise she couldn't recover properly. A few years before I got you, during her week awake, she got attacked. A human child who had been living alone in the forest with the help of some of the Pokmon found her and helped look after her. At the end of the week, she teleported to the Hall and asked me for some help. She wanted to make the child a hybrid, but she wouldn't be around to help him. So, I shortened her sleep to a year. It would slow her recovery, but she made the boy a hybrid. He didn't know his name, so she called him Julian. She then brought him to the Hall, and he stays there while Jasmine sleeps. We, that is to say Arceus and myself before I found you, looked after him. After I found you and started looking after you, Arceus kept an eye on him while Jas was gone. You might remember me having to go out at random points in the year. Well, I was heading into the Hall to check on Julian. I had more experience with kids after all."

"Can we meet Julian then? He's at the… wait, what's the Hall?"

"The Hall is the Hall of Origins. It's the place where everything was created from. I would have taken you before, but humans can't stay there for longer than a few hours, and I didn't want to make you a hybrid yet. So, I visited every now and then, but mostly stayed here with you."

"So, Julian is at the Hall of Origins. Can we go there first?"

"If you want to. I'll have to tell Arceus first though, so it might be better to go somewhere else." Ash stood up and transformed into his Mew form.

' _ **Which of your friends do you want to visit first, while we wait to tell Arceus?'**_ Mew transformed too.

' _ **Let's go visit Vi. We'll be going to Castelia City and flying from there.'**_ Mew wrapped her tail around Ash and teleported.

* * *

They arrived on top of one of the skyscrapers in the city. Ash looked around from there, but Mew pulled him along.

' _Come on, let's go.'_ Ash jumped, and stared at his mom. ' _I won't be talking out loud, just in case someone hears us. Just use telepathy.'_ Ash nodded.

' _Ok. Where is it we're going?'_

' _I'll tell you while we fly. Now come on, we need to get moving.'_ Mew took off towards the sea, while Ash flew behind. As they got out to sea, they started talking normally again.

' _ **So, where is it that we're going?'**_

' _ **Liberty garden. It's where Vi and Victoria live. It was made by an extremely rich family for a place to relax. After a while, it was abandoned. Vi lived in the city at the time, and had hidden on the last ship to the island. She liked it, so she stayed there. As for Victoria…'**_ Mew shrugged. ' _ **You'll have to ask Vi about that.'**_

' _ **Ok. I'll ask them later. Hopefully we get the story. How many people… errrr, Pokemon, will we be visiting? We only have a week.'**_

' _ **We'll visit a couple of my friends. We'll do Vi and Sarah today. We can do Lilette, Lucca and Rila tomorrow. I haven't decided about any day after.'**_ Ash nodded.

' _ **Ok. Let's get a move on, shall we, mom? We don't have all day. Well, actually we do, but you know.'**_ Mew chuckled along with Ash, then picked up the pace. Soon she was rocketing ahead of him.

' _Ok Slowpoke, I'll race you there. See you over at the island, it's just ahead. No teleporting.'_ Ash shook his head at his mother's random playfulness, and surged ahead. Soon he caught up with his mother, and the island started to come into sight. Mew started her descent, so Ash turned sharply to catch up. They landed at the same time, and a small Victini floated out. It was shiny, so Ash assumed that it must be Vi's daughter. She spoke, quite shyly, to the two Mew's floating in front of her.

' _ **Who are you? Why are you here? And how did you get here?'**_

' _ **Relax little one, we aren't here to hurt you. You must be Victoria. Is your Memma here?'**_

' _ **Why are you looking for Memma? What do want her for?'**_

' _ **Victoria!'**_ Someone yelled from the small building behind her, causing her to turn. ' _ **Who are you talking to?'**_

' _ **Hello Vi!'**_ Mew yelled back. ' _ **Nice to see you again!'**_

' _ **Mew?'**_ Vi shouted. A few seconds later, a Victini floated out and over to them. ' _ **It's good to see you again! Is this Ash?'**_ She said, flying over to them, and beckoning for Victoria to follow.

' _ **Hi.'**_ Ash said shyly. ' _ **It's nice to meet you.'**_

' _ **Hello Ash.'**_ Victoria said. ' _ **It's nice to meet you too.'**_ Meanwhile, Mew was talking to Vi.

' _ **I could tell you where coming, but I didn't expect you so soon.'**_

' _ **Sorry about that. We had a little race.'**_

' _ **Did you get our present?'**_ Victoria asked Ash.

' _ **Yeah. Thanks for that by the way. They're really cool.'**_

' _ **Memma said you would like them.'**_ Victoria replied, blushing slightly. ' _ **Have you visited anyone else yet?'**_

' _ **No, you guys were first. I don't know where we're visiting, mom just springs it on me when we go.'**_

' _ **Wow.'**_ She said, almost wishfully. ' _ **I haven't gone anywhere with Memma yet. I think it might be because Memma can't transform into a human shape, and I'm a little young I guess.'**_

' _ **Really? How old are you?'**_

' _ **I'm six.'**_ She replied. Mew and Vi were having their own conversation further off.

' _ **How've you been Vi?'**_

' _ **Fine. We actually had a boat come here a few days ago, and they were looking for me. They apparently heard a rumor that I was around here, even though we haven't had visitors for a year. We played a couple of pranks on them.'**_

' _ **I wish I could've seen that. Did Victoria join in?'**_

' _ **Yeah, she helped me sent up a few of the pranks.'**_

' _ **Well, that definitely would have been fun to see. How do you think they knew?'**_

' _ **I wouldn't have a clue.'**_ Vi shook her head. ' _ **I wish I did, then I could make sure it doesn't happen again.'**_ Vi floated over to the ocean, and Mew followed. They looked out across the sea, watching as a cruise ship floated along in the distance, no doubt heading for one of the far away regions.

' _ **I might be able to cloak the island like I did with Faraway island.'**_ Mew said. ' _ **I don't know how well it'll work, but I can try if you want.'**_

' _ **No.'**_ Vi shook her head sadly. ' _ **That'd be worse. How do you think people would react if an island that's always been there disappeared randomly at some points in the day?'**_

' _ **Good point.'**_ Mew nodded.

* * *

' _ **Hey Victoria, do you want to go and fly around a little?'**_ Ash asked suddenly.

' _ **I don't know if Memma would let me.'**_ She said quietly. ' _ **After all, we had some strange people come here the other day, and I can't make myself invisible yet.'**_

' _ **I'll go with you. I should be able to cloak us both, or use something to scare them off.'**_

' _ **Memma?'**_ Victoria said, flying over to her parent. ' _ **Can me and Ash go fly around for a bit?'**_

' _ **Of course dear.'**_ She smiled warmly. ' _ **Don't go too far though.'**_

' _ **Ok!'**_ She cried, flying back to Ash. ' _ **Do you want to go anywhere special?'**_

' _ **I was just thinking of flying for a bit.'**_ He replied. ' _ **It would be nice to go to Castelia and explore, but we can't go super far away.'**_ He sighed, and flew into the air. ' _ **Come on, let's explore the ocean.'**_

' _ **But I can't go down there!'**_ She squeaked. ' _ **I'm a fire type!'**_ Ash dove down, creating a Psychic bubble around himself.

' _ **Come on Victoria, I'll keep a bubble around you.'**_ She dropped next to Ash with some resignation, and he used Psychic to stop her touching the water. ' _ **See? No problems.'**_ She let herself drop into the water too, and they started swimming down.

' _ **This is weird!'**_ She giggled. ' _ **I've never been able to swim down here before!'**_

' _ **Neither have I.'**_ Ash smiled at how happy his new friend was. ' _ **I was human until a few days ago, and my mom taught me how to do this yesterday.'**_

' _ **Maybe I'll get Memma to show me how to do this too, then we can play with the ocean Pokemon and I can make more new friends.'**_ Victoria said cheerfully. They swam in the water for a little while longer, not going too far away from the island. Ash noticed a group of Basculin swimming away quickly, as though worried by something. He floated over to them.

' _ **Hey, what's wrong?'**_ The leader of the group made a bowing motion to Ash.

' _ **Child of Mew, you must leave. It is too dangerous for you here. It seems to be going to Liberty Island, though no humans go there.'**_ Ash frowned; he didn't think that Pokemon would know who he was, though he was in his Pokemon form.

' _ **Why? What's wrong?'**_

' _ **A boat of humans is coming. I do not want you to be caught by them.'**_ The Basculin looked behind him, and turned back to Ash. ' _ **We also need to go. Goodbye.'**_

' _ **Thank you for your help!'**_ Ash called to him. He flew back to Victoria. ' _ **Vic, we need to go. Did you hear what they said?'**_

' _ **Yeah.' She nodded. 'We should go and warn Memma and Miss Mew.'**_ Ash started leading the way back, with Victoria rushing behind to catch up. They broke out of the water and landed next to the parents.

' _ **Mom!'**_ Ash said, out of breath. ' _ **There's a weird boat heading out! It looks to be heading for the island!'**_

' _ **Right.'**_ Mew looked serious. ' _ **Vi, go and take Victoria into the building. Ash, feel like messing with them?'**_

' _ **Ok!'**_ He grinned. Vi took Victoria into the building, and the door creaked as she closed it with Psychic. ' _ **What will we do Mom?'**_

' _ **Let's go invisible first, then we can get rid of them.'**_ They flew up and vanished, flying towards the boat to listen to the people on there.

"So why are we going to this little island in the middle of nowhere?"

"Because, you numbnut," The captain sighed. "There's rumoured to be a Victini and shiny Victini on here. That'll really please the King."

' _A King? They have a King in this region?'_ Ash asked his mother, confused. ' _I thought the Pokemon League Champion was the leader in the region.'_

' _They are.'_ Mew replied steadily. ' _The regions don't have kings, and this one is no exception. I think they're talking about a group. After all, look at their uniforms.'_ Ash stared at them, and realised his mother was right.

' _Well, it's clear they're after Vi and Victoria, so how will we get rid of them?'_ He asked, eager to pull a prank on these people who were coming after his new friends.

' _Follow me.'_ Ash saw Mew splash lightly into the water, and followed. They headed to a cave a little in front of the boat. ' _Transform into a Gyarados. I'll do the same and levitate a rock in front of the boat and make them think they hit a Gyarados nest. Then we can start using Flamethrower and scare them away.'_

' _That's a little harsh, isn't it?'_

' _I suppose so, but they're our friends. And as Guardians of the Earth, we need to make sure that they aren't caught.'_ Ash looked quite worried, but nodded and used Transform to turn into a Gyarados, and his mother did the same. She glowed pink as she used Psychic to lift a heavy rock in front of the boat, and it rammed into it. Mew dropped the rock to the floor as people started shouting on the boat. She winked at her child and roared loudly, and Ash followed her example. She shot to the surface and roared again at the boat, and Ash started using Flamethrower at the boat.

"Turn this ship around! We need to get out of here!" Ash heard the captain of the boat shout. It slowly turned around as the two disguised Pokemon, or hybrid for Ash, attacked their ship. After it turned, Mew used Surf to push it far away from the island, and Ash used a Blizzard attack to hurry their departure. They dove slightly below the water and watched as they sailed away, heading back towards Castelia City. They transformed back to their Mew forms and flew back to the island.

' _ **Vi! Victoria! It's safe, come on out!'**_ Ash shouted when they landed. The huge door in front of the room creaked open slowly, and the little red ears of Victoria poked out, followed by the larger creme form of Vi as they hovered over to the Mew's. Victoria gave Ash a hug.

' _ **Thank you for helping us.'**_ She said shyly.

' _ **It's no problem.'**_ Ash smiled back. Mew grinned at Vi, and she nudged Ash.

' _ **Come on dear, we should go. We've still got to visit Sarah today.'**_

' _ **Thank you for visiting.'**_ Vi told them. ' _ **Maybe I'll take Victoria out and see if we can meet you on your journey when it starts.'**_

' _ **Yeah!'**_ Victoria cried. ' _ **I wanna do that! Can I start a journey Memma?'**_

' _ **You need to be ten to start a journey, and you still need to learn how to interact with humans properly.'**_ Vi said. ' _ **When you are, then yes.'**_ Mew and Ash flew into the air.

' _ **Do you mind if we teleport from here?'**_ Mew asked. ' _ **I'd rather not fly.'**_

' _ **Of course.'**_ Vi replied. ' _ **Tell Sarah I said hi.'**_ Mew nodded, and teleported with Ash to Sinnoh.

* * *

 **AN: Ok, long chapter. But you got over the cliffhanger and met one of Mew's friends.**

 **K: I like Victoria. Her personality is… strange, though.**

 **P: Have you met some of Shadow's characters? This is a fairly normal one to start this.**

 **T: Back again, by the way.**

 **SV: I'm sure they noticed. Trix, don't prank my co writers please. Especially Ki. That's my job.**

 **K: And not with a Gengar again. That was rude.**

 **SV: No, that was Trixie.**

 **P: We'll see you all next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Back again!**

 **P: Can we meet the other friends of Mew?**

 **K: We don't have time for that. And we want some to arrive later. So not today, or the next three chapters will be Mew's friends, and we've waited long enough to start the journey.**

 **T: Neither of these guys own Pokemon.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7.**

* * *

' _ **Mom?'**_

' _ **Yes?'**_ Ash and Mew were flying back home, after spending some time at Lena's 'house', an underwater cave in the middle of the Shamouti Islands, and her two children, Lillian and Lucas.

' _ **When will we be meeting Julian at the Hall of Origins?'**_

' _ **I'll teleport back tonight and ask if we can come. Will you be ok on your own?'**_ Mew asked, concerned.

' _ **Mom, I'll be fine. I have these awesome abilities now.'**_

' _ **Don't use them though. I don't want people finding out and trying to capture you.'**_

' _ **Ok.'**_ Ash looked around, and saw that Cinnabar Island was coming into view. ' _ **We're almost home, right?'**_ Mew looked down too.

' _ **Yes. Another half hour at this speed.'**_ Mew smiled at Ash. ' _ **Are you sure?'**_

' _ **Yes, I'll be fine.'**_ The landscape changed as they flew over the island, and Ash grinned at his mother. ' _ **It's a good thing it's dark, or we'd have some problems with tourists looking up and spotting us.'**_

' _ **We can go invisible though, so that wouldn't be a huge difficulty.'**_ Ash nodded, having forgotten that they can do that.

' _ **Mom?'**_

' _ **Yes dear?'**_

' _ **How come the other hybrids called their parent Pokemon 'Memma'?'**_

' _ **Well, Memma is the Pokemon term for a parent. It means both, so they call out either species and gender for a specific parent. I wanted you to be raised calling me mom, because then it's less likely that you'd mess up and call me it in front of other humans.'**_ Mew explained to her child.

' _ **Oh. Ok.'**_ They flew in silence for the next half hour, until Ash and Mew saw their house in Pallet. Mew landed in the back garden and transformed, and Ash did the same. "Now, I'm going to cook something, and you can eat that before I go to the Hall. I should be back in around an hour or so, so I want you to go to sleep before I leave." Ash smiled inwardly at his mother's seriousness, as it was rare that she was truly serious about anything, but nodded. "Right, give me a minute to cook something and then I'll leave." Mew unlocked the back door and walked in, using Psychic to start grabbing things to cook. "Go ahead and watch TV or something. I should be finished cooking in another half an hour of so."

"Ok." Ash went back to the living room and carried on watching the show he had been watching in the week before the trip, and the little bit of time home between visits. He watched the show for maybe ten minutes, then stood up and walked over to the bookshelf. He picked up the little blue box with the crystal embedded in it and opened it, showing the badge inside. Looking at it in more detail, it resembled the victors medal from the Tour de Alto Mare, a tournament Ash had seen once when they had visited the water city. However, it was smaller due to it being a badge, not a medal, and depicted two other Pokemon instead of the regular Latias and Latios; both Mew, one clearly smaller than the other. Ash smiled, as it seemed to represent himself and his mother. He carefully placed it back in the case, knowing he would need to put it on his new outfit for the journey he would be starting the day after his visit to the Hall. He placed the case on the shelf where it had been sitting, and walked back over to the chair as Mew brought in some food.

"Right. Eat this, put the bowl into the sink and go up to bed when you're done. If we can go, we'll be leaving early so we can get there. I'll be back later, my trip will take a few hours, so I want you asleep." Ash nodded, and Mew patted him on the head and walked to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow." She opened the door and slipped out, locking it behind her. Ash watched out of the window as 'Delia' walked towards Viridian City, and wondered why she wasn't flying from the back garden, or teleporting straight there. He quickly ate and turned off the TV, while floating the bowl to the sink with Psychic.

 _Psychic powers are taking a while to get used to._ He mused, teleporting up to his room, the doubled back down to take the case to his room. He again used Psychic to turn off the lights, and lay down to sleep, letting himself transform as he did so.

* * *

Meanwhile, far in the forest…

* * *

A stranger looked back between the house and retreating female. Another shape dropped next to them, and they turned to each other and had a whispered conversation, as though aware that they were likely to be heard.

"This one seems more willing to leave the child alone." One said, with a strange quality to their voice, almost a deep underlying growl, if it can even be called that.

"Would that make them likely to be first?" The other said, with a lighter tone, almost cooing, though again that isn't a way to call it.

"Possibly. Although, considering the parent..."

"Maybe a weaker one first?" The other finished.

"Exactly. We'll keep an eye on this though."

"How long before we start? And what if…?"

"They won't." The first voice said sharply. "After all… we aren't where we are for nothing."

* * *

 **Chapter 8.**

* * *

Ash looked around blearily, searching for the thing that had awoke him. He couldn't see anything, so he used Psychic to see if there were any presences nearby. He felt two people walking towards Viridian City, and then they went out of his small range.

' _ **I wonder who could be walking around right now.'**_ He muttered drowsily. ' _ **Oh well, no matter.'**_ He said, falling back asleep almost instantly. In all honesty, it was a slight miracle that he had woken in the first place, because it was almost impossible to do that normally.

* * *

"Ash!" Mew shouted. He sat bolt upright as his mother yelled into his room. "Get up, we have to go soon!"

' _ **Coming!'**_ He shouted back, quickly getting changed out of his Mew form and then into more casual traveling clothes, quite different from the ones that would be wore on his journey. He dashed down the stairs, slipped, and went rolling down the last few steps. He used Psychic just before he hit the floor, creating a blue bubble to land on.

"Come here, breakfast is ready." Mew said, slightly more calm. "We're heading to the Hall today, so we need to get going soon."

"So Arceus said yes?" Ash exclaimed excitedly as he walked into the kitchen. "Great!"

"Yep. We need to get going pretty fast."

"Why?" He said curiously, gobbling down his food. "Can't we just teleport from here?"

"Nope. The Hall is impossible to teleport to." Ash raised his eyebrows, but Mew shook her head. "I can't explain now, so just go with that. Maybe I'll explain another time." She was also eating quite quickly, but nowhere near as fast as Ash was. As soon as he was finished, Ash used Psychic to put everything in the washing up. "Right, go and get the gift Arceus gave you. I think it would be a good idea to have you wear it when you visit for the first time." Ash nodded, and teleported to his room, picking up the small box that held the badge. He carefully put the badge on his coat, and could feel his Psychic powers increasing thanks to the amplifier. He teleported back downstairs to Mew, who was just cleaning up.

"All ready to go." He said happily. He was excited to meet another child of Mew's friends. And this one was Jirachi's child, a Pokemon that could grant wishes. It was unlikely that he would be able to do that yet, if he's still young, but maybe Julian would be a good friend to make. After all, a friend who can grant wishes would be helpful.

"Ok. Go wait by the door, I'll be with you in two seconds." Ash sat on the sofa in the living room as Mew put everything away with her Psychic. "Right, we need to go to Route 22 and use the gateway there." Ash looked confusedly at his mother.

"A gateway? What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you when we get there." She said, pulling on a coat and opening the door. "Remember, no powers." He nodded.

"I know, it's dangerous." He said as they walked into the forest. "You don't need to lecture me, I know about this." The two of them walked deeper into the forest, avoiding the path that Ash knew about, having walked to Viridian City before. "How come we're taking a different route?"

"It's less likely that we'd be followed this way." Mew said. "The other road to Viridian is a public path, and though not many people walk to Pallet unless they're starting a journey, I don't really want any people to follow us."

"I'm still confused as to why we can't teleport, either to the Hall or this gateway."

"Like I said, it's impossible to teleport to the Hall, because it doesn't have a fixed location." Mew started to explain. "Arceus can teleport anyone to the Hall himself, but no one else can. And we're walking to the gateway because I want you to know where it is. Just in case there's an emergency and you need to get somewhere safe, you can fly or teleport to here."

"Oh." Ash said, not having a reply to that logic. "So where is it?"

"On Route 22. I'll show you where when we get there." Mew said. She ignored his questioning for the rest of the walk. Sometimes her eyes would glow faintly pink as she used Psychic. They soon arrived at the route, just next to the Viridian City exit. "Right. Stay close to me, we're walking through the grass. They shouldn't attack us, but I'm not sure." Ash pressed close to his mother, and they walked through the grass, careful not to anger any wild Pokemon. A few Rattata peeked out of the grass and stared at them, but ducked back down without causing a commotion.

' _Why aren't they doing anything?'_ Ash asked Mew, confused.

' _I don't exactly know.'_ She replied. ' _They can't tell who we are, because they can't sense Psychic powers. And anyway, I'm powerful enough that Psychic types can't tell, and as a human it's further muted for both of us.'_

' _That's cool.'_ Ash grinned. ' _Does that work for all people, or can hybrids tell?'_

' _I'm not sure about that.'_ Mew pulled him out of the grass and over to a small fenced off area near the cliff. "Here it is."

"It's a blank wall." Ash said ludicrously.

"Correct." Mew smiled. "But, it reacts to any legendary Pokemon nearby that is not caught by a trainer. Since legends started adopting hybrids, Arceus changed the register to open for hybrids too. Watch." Mew pushed her hand against the wall, and a huge yellow circle appeared around her hand. It split vertically, and the parts moved sideways. A white portal was revealed, and Mew moved her hand back. She transformed back into her shape as a Mew. ' _ **Ash, if you don't mind, transform over. Julian isn't too used to being around other humans. Jasmine has taken him out into our world before, but he isn't really used to interacting with humans, so it might make him uncomfortable.'**_

"Ok." Ash started to transform too, and an assortment of pink and blue bubbles of Psychic energy wrapped around him. The bubbles burst, creating a huge array of sparkles as his blue form took his place. Mew shook her head.

' _ **It's still odd to see you in this form, having transformed yourself.'**_ Ash blushed, and Mew gave him a hug. ' _ **Now, let's get through this door before anyone sees us.'**_ Mew floated aside to let Ash through first, then closed the doors and slipped through to the Hall of Origins.

* * *

' _ **Wow!'**_ Ash gasped, gazing around. ' _ **This is awesome!'**_

' _ **It is quite pretty, isn't it?'**_ Mew flew to the portal behind him, which had been showing the scenery from the route they had left. It slowly faded to black, then sealed itself. She spread her arms and spun. ' _ **Welcome to my home!'**_

' _ **Why is there so much white?'**_ He questioned. ' _ **It certainly looks like a hall, but why all white?'**_

' _ **This is just the gateway area. Trust me, the rest of it is much more colourful.'**_ She kept spinning around rapidly. ' _ **Come on, I'll show you around. I can introduce you to Arcy later.'**_

' _ **Whoa, when did you get so excited? And why are you calling Arceus 'Arcy'?'**_

' _ **Well, I'm finally able to bring my dear child to my home. Why wouldn't I be happy?'**_ Mew flipped again. ' _ **And I'm allowed to call him Arcy. After all, we're on equal ground.'**_ She grabbed her child's arm and tugged him along. ' _ **Come on, let's look at the Hall. There's so many things I want to show you!'**_ Ash was helplessly pulled along as his mother guided him around the entire Hall.

' _ **Ok, where are we going?'**_

' _ **Well, first is one of the mountain rooms.'**_ Mew said excitedly. ' _ **We made each room different, so when other legendaries are here they have a place to stay that's similar to their natural homes.'**_ Mew pushed open the huge set of doors, clearly made for bigger legends than the tiny Mew duo, and she stood aside, letting her child see one of her main creations.

' _ **Wow!'**_ Ash gasped, gazing around the huge room. ' _ **Did you make this?'**_

' _ **Not all of it. Arcy made the actual base for it, seperating the rooms and then making the mountains, and I added all the pretty stuff, like the greenery. Also, if you look up, you might have noticed the sky.'**_ Ash stopped staring at the floor area and looked up.

' _ **Why is there a sky?'**_

' _ **Another one of my additions. I wanted it to feel more natural, like the Pokemon and hybrids are outside, not cooped up in a building. Most of the Pokemon families are used to being outside, so it might feel uncomfortable to be in a room. This was my way of stopping that. Also,'**_ Mew giggled. ' _ **I had loads of fun designing all of the rooms. Come on, let's fly to the top.'**_ She lifted higher off the floor, heading to the top of the cliff.

' _ **How many of these are there?'**_ Ash shouted, rushing to catch up.

' _ **I think there's around 55 or so. I haven't been here for a while, so I can't remember very well.'**_

' _ **And you made them all?'**_

' _ **Well, like I said earlier, Arcy made the rooms, so I just filled them with things. Arcy had it easier. He just had to split all of the rooms off from each other, while I had to be more creative to make each room different, as well as suit all of the Pokemon. If we ever decide to make more regions for trainers to explore, I'll need to make more Pokemon too, and that includes legendary Pokemon, meaning we'll need more rooms for visiting legendaries.'**_

' _ **Well, at least you won't run out of ideas any time soon.'**_ Ash muttered. ' _ **Considering how crazy you can be.'**_ Mew chuckled, and tapped him on the head with her long tail.

' _ **I'll show all the rooms. That way, you can know where everything is. After all, as Pokemon creators, it's pretty vital that we are kind to all the Pokemon we meet.'**_

* * *

After they left the first mountain room, Mew guided Ash all over the Hall of Origins, pointing out the small nameplates next to each of the rooms. She also spent the time lecturing him on the duties that a Mew had as the creator of all Pokemon. They didn't look in all of the rooms, as some were similar to the others. Finally, after a good hour, she went to one last room.

' _ **Here's the last room. I spent ages on this one, but it's still a little cluttered.'**_ Ash cocked his head, interested to see what was in this room. Mew opened the door and flew in, somewhat blocking Ash's view of the room as she entered. ' _ **I would have made it one thing, but I liked the idea of having variety in this room. I think you'll understand why.'**_ Ash flew in after her, eager to see why his mother was saying that, then froze in the doorway. Directly in front of him was a huge body of water, more an ocean than a lake. To the left and right was a forest, and behind the water there was a huge mountain, with clearly identifiable caves and a pathway. The clouds above, which looked more like bubbles, were spiraling in a strange pattern, and would seem to bounce off each other if they came too close together. Ash floated over to the water and looked in. It was almost crystal clear around the edges, but the center of the pool was dark, quite blackish. He looked closely at that spot, but didn't see anything that would explain why it was so dark when the rest of the pool was clear as ice. He shook his head, choosing not to worry about it, and started flying over the lake towards the mountains peak. It took a few moments, as he still wasn't very used to flying and the mountain was super far away, but he flew over the top and looked down at the surprise crater that was there.

' _Mom? Can I ask why there's a volcano in this room?'_ Ash asked nervously.

' _Don't worry about it right now. Put up a protective bubble and dive in. Keep swimming down.'_ Mew said, a happy tone in her voice. Ash looked ludicrously at the pool, then shook his head again and followed what she'd said. He created a blue bubble of Psychic power around himself, and stopped his levitation, letting himself drop straight down into the lava. He fell straight through for a few moments, then bounced off a wall. Ash looked carefully at the sides as he floated along, and saw he was in a tunnel carved out of the rock in the mountain. He came flying out of the tube and saw a quick glimpse of a room before landing with a splash in a pool of lava. He let his bubble float to the top before reactivating his levitation, flying a few feet above it and letting the bubble disintegrate, falling in sparkling pieces around him as he looked around. The room was filled with bubbly cushions and plush toys, and had a huge flat screen TV.

' _ **What do you think!'**_ Mew said cheerfully, appearing behind him.

' _ **In all honesty, I did not expect this.'**_ Ash admitted. ' _ **I really should have, but I didn't.'**_

' _ **Yeah. I made this place a super long time ago, when I stayed here in the Hall. I never really went out to the planet, as I wasn't really a proper caretaker for it. I made the Pokemon that looked after the world, so I didn't have much of a job. In fact, it was mostly luck that I happened to be flying past Pallet Town when the creation trio started making an uproar.'**_ Mew explained. ' _ **I was thinking of swapping you over when I first got you, and then we would have lived here. But in the end, I ended up liking you more as just a pure human, so I left it alone. I also had to stop being so playful constantly, because I didn't want to set you a bad example.'**_ Ash's mind flickered back to the few dozen Mew games that she'd made over the years. They hadn't ever been too bad, but some got a little dangerous in the sense that it could have ended in them being spotted.

' _ **Well, you did a pretty good job.'**_ Ash stared around the room quickly once more, then smiled at his mother. ' _ **Shall we go an meet Julian and Arceus then?' Mew did a quick flip before replying.**_

' _ **Sure. Arcy's been wanting to meet you for ages anyway. If he could have gotten away with it, he probably would have flown to our house to visit. He would have too, if it weren't for the fact that he'd have to keep Ju with him, so they would have both had to use human forms.'**_ Mew guided him through a few passageways until they reached a tunnel in the roof, and then pulled him closer. ' _ **Hold tight.'**_ She put a small shield around them, and adjusted the levitation affecting the bubble and flew them straight out of the hole. They passed through a small Psychic barrier and came out of the water in the center of the ocean lake, hovering above the dark spot that Ash had noticed earlier. Mew let the bubble burst and let go of Ash.

' _ **Where do we need to go?'**_ He asked. ' _ **Which room would they be in?'**_

' _ **Oh, Arcy has his own chamber, as does Ju, but they won't be there. They should be waiting for us in the main hall.'**_ She beckoned for Ash to follow her. They flew through a few hallways, before they reached another huge door.

' _ **What's this?'**_

' _ **The main hall. It's the place where we hold all of our meetings. The hybrids head to their own rooms while we talk. Now,'**_ Mew said, suddenly serious. ' _ **Be on your best behaviour.'**_ He nodded shyly, and Mew pushed open the door and flew in.

* * *

 **AN: In case you haven't noticed yet, I have a thing for leaving off in the worst places.**

 **K: This better not be a thing for the entire story.**

 **P: It's Shadow. It probably will.**

 **T: We'll try and stop her from doing it too often, but cliffhangers are going to happen quite often either way.**

 **SV: Mostly when either the chapter's getting too long, or I don't have a good way to segway into the next part. I apologise for that, but oh well!**

 **K: We'll try and get Shadow to start the story next time, instead of exposition. See you then!**

 **SV: Quick question before ya'll leave. Do you want Ash to still have Pikachu, or a different starter? It's up to you on that one. Bye!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: And we're back!**

 **K: We'll meet Arceus and Julian this week.**

 **P: And hopefully start the journey too!**

 **T: These two writers don't own Pokemon, so let's start!**

* * *

 **Chapter 9.**

* * *

The meeting hall that they flew into was huge. It had to be, to house every legendary Pokemon currently in existence during a time of crisis. Ash pressed slightly closer to his mother, suddenly very shy about meeting them. After all, one was a god on the same level as his mother. Ash hadn't really thought about the fact that Mew and Arceus held the same amount of power, mostly because he was much more comfortable with Mew, having lived with her for most of his life. A small Pokemon came flying over to them and hugged Mew, accidentally pushing Ash out of the way.

' _ **Aunty Mew! I didn't expect you to be visiting!'**_ Ash shook his head and looked at the Pokemon hugging his mother. It was a small star shaped Pokemon, with two ribbons and three tag-like attachments to the star. Mew giggled, patting Julian on the head.

' _ **It's good to see you too, Ju. I thought Arceus would have said that I was coming this morning, though I only decided last night.'**_ He pulled back, the little orange tags waving slightly from the motion. Ash twitched his tail slightly, which drew Julian's attention to the little blue Mew.

' _ **Aunty Mew, who's this?'**_ Mew beckoned for Ash to introduce himself, and he floated a little closer.

' _ **Hi. My name's Ash, it's nice to meet you.'**_ He said, extending his hand. He took it, grinning shyly.

' _ **Hello. It's good to meet you too.'**_

' _ **Where's Arceus Ju?'**_ Mew asked him kindly.

' _ **I'll go get him.'**_ He smiled to her, flying off. Ash turned to Mew.

' _ **Didn't he know I was your child?'**_

' _ **Well, I never actually brought up the fact that I had adopted you when he was around, only with Arcy, because I knew that if I had he'd want to see you.'**_ Julian flew back to the two Psychic types and stood next to Mew. A giant white figure floated through a doorway at the side, and grinned when he caught Mew's eye.

' _ **Hello deary.'**_ Arceus said. ' _ **How are you?'**_

' _ **Arcy, you only saw me last night.'**_ She sighed. ' _ **How much could have happened between me leaving and getting home to Ashy?'**_

' _ **Well, you can't expect me not to worry.'**_ He said, bowing his head to her level. ' _ **Most, if not all, trainers would kill for a chance to capture one of us.'**_

' _ **And you really have so little trust in me that you think I'd get caught?'**_ She asked, offended.

' _ **Of course not. After all, it's close to impossible to easily catch us.'**_ He smiled at her, then looked at Ash. ' _ **And this must be Ash.'**_

' _ **Hello.'**_ The aforementioned trainer to be squeaked.

' _ **It's very good to meet you in person at last.'**_ He said kindly. ' _ **I hope you've been enjoying this last week of traveling and meeting our fellow legends and your fellow hybrids.'**_

' _ **Yeah. I've made loads of friends that I didn't even know existed.'**_ Ash replied, calming down in the presence of the god Pokemon. ' _ **Thank you for the gift.'**_

' _ **Don't worry about it. After all, the tenth birthday of my best friends child isn't something I'd want to miss. Lucky that Ilex was visiting though. I would've had to send Julian with the gift otherwise.'**_

' _ **I could have delivered it for you Uncle Arceus.'**_ He said.

' _ **I know you could have, but I didn't want you too. You don't have the best knowledge of humans, so I wasn't sure how you'd be with all the humans around.'**_

' _ **Ok. Ash, come and play with me!'**_ He said excitedly, pulling the Mew along. The two true legendaries chuckled, and shared a look. Arceus then sighed.

' _ **Are you sure you still want to do this?'**_

' _ **Of course. After all, he's my child.'**_

' _ **That isn't what I meant.'**_

' _ **I know what you meant dear. And I'm not going to change my mind.'**_

' _ **If you're so sure.'**_ He sighed. ' _ **Be careful.'**_

' _ **I'll be fine. After all, how badly could it go?'**_

* * *

Julian lead Ash through a huge amount of hallways, causing Ash to get lost in seconds.

' _ **How do you know your way around here so well?'**_

' _ **I've lived here since Memma adopted me. Of course I'd have learned my way round by now.'**_ He replied sadly. ' _ **It's a shame you couldn't have come last week. You could've met my Memma then.'**_

' _ **Yeah. It was my birthday last week though, so we had my human friends over for a party.'**_ Ash stumbled slightly when he said 'humans', as it was still weird referring to what he had been his entire life as a different species completely.

' _ **I understand. Memma isn't often around for my birthday. It depends on when the meteor falls to cause her to wake up.'**_ Ash felt bad for the small shiny, and had an idea.

' _ **Hey, maybe next time it's my birthday, you can come over and play!'**_ He suggested.

' _ **Really?'**_

' _ **Sure! I could come and pick you up from here while Mom gets everything ready.'**_ Julian perked up happily at the idea.

' _ **Why do you call Aunty Mew 'mom' instead of Memma?'**_

' _ **Well, I've always called her that so as not to let the difference slip in front of humans.'**_ He nodded at the explanation, then took a sharp turn towards another room.

' _ **This is like a playroom for the other Children of Legendaries to stay when our Memmas are in meetings with Arceus.'**_ Julian told him, opening the door. ' _ **It'll only be us here though, as all the others are at their homes.'**_

' _ **Do the others help their Memmas with their jobs?'**_

' _ **I think some of them do, but only the 'adults'.'**_ Julian said, floating into the room. ' _ **Most of us littler ones don't get to help out. It's because we're too young and inexperienced, so we can't use the powers that our Memmas do to help with the jobs.'**_ Ash nodded, and the shiny Jirachi pulled him over to one of the areas. ' _ **Anyway, this is my main area. Any hybrid can go anywhere, but this is the place I normally stay in.'**_ He pulled Ash over to a few areas and they started to play.

* * *

A few hours later, Mew and Arceus had finished talking, and Mew had looked over into the Pokemon World to check the time. After all, she didn't particularly want to have to walk through the grass and forested area at night. She was quite shocked to see that it was already evening, and night was fast approaching.

' _ **Well, I think we should get going!'**_ Mew exclaimed. ' _ **It's almost night time already.'**_

' _ **Ok dear. Ash is starting his journey tomorrow, isn't he?'**_ She nodded. ' _ **Well, I wish him luck on his travels.'**_ The two of them floated over to the playroom and pushed open the door.

' _ **Ash! Come on, we need to go!'**_ The smaller Mew heard this and flew over to his parent, and his newest friend followed over.

' _ **Bye Ash, bye Aunty Mew!'**_ Julian waved.

' _ **We'll try and visit another time.'**_ Mew said, hugging him. ' _ **I'll try and come again when Jasmine wakes up.'**_

' _ **Ok!'**_ The group of legends floated to the gateway room. The small Jirachi child gave his new friend a hug. ' _ **I'll see if Memma will let us come and see you on your journey when she wakes up again!'**_ Mew chuckled at her 'nephew', and placed her hand on hand on the door that would lead back to Route 22. They swung open, and the black soon changed to show what the route looked like on the other side.

' _ **Come on Ashy, we need to go before people notice the gateway.'**_ He nodded, and waved goodbye to the two legends once more, then flew after his parent Pokemon back to the side of Viridian City.

* * *

Chapter 10.

* * *

Ash and Mew reappeared on the other side of the gateway. Mew turned, transforming to a human shape as she did, and closed it quickly. Ash surrounded himself in bubbles again as he transformed too. The cliffside closed itself back up, and the split along the middle disappeared. Mew sighed, and looked happily at her child.

"So, how did you enjoy the visit?" She asked curiously.

"It was fun!" He replied happily. "It was great to see the Hall." Mew sighed quietly, as she had been worried that he wouldn't like it.

"Come on, let's head back. You're going to start your journey tomorrow, aren't you?"

"Oh yeah!" Ash suddenly perked up excitedly. "With all the excitement with meeting all of your friends and the other hybrids, I completely forgot I was supposed to have started my journey." Mew giggled.

"Well, we should get back to Pallet then, shouldn't we?" She said, walking back along that little used path that acted as a shortcut back to Pallet Town.

"Hey mom?" Ash asked her. "I said to Ju that maybe he could come over for my birthday next year. Would that be ok with you?"

"Of course!" Mew said. "After all, Ju doesn't really come here often, and is only friends with the hybrids that visit the Hall. I think it would be nice to let him come over to ours next year." Ash grinned, and Mew started leading the way back to Pallet.

* * *

Around twenty minutes later, Mew unlocked the door to Delia's house. She walked in, already using Psychic to start cooking in the kitchen as Ash followed behind her. She extended her Psychic power to quickly lock the door behind them, and Ash sat in front of the television set. He levitated a movie off the shelf, looked at it for a few moments, then sighed and put it down again. His mind was too busy buzzing with the fact that he was finally starting his journey tomorrow. He had just had a great week of visiting all of Mew's friends, and now he was going to finally get to start the trip with his new Pokemon, whichever he decides to start with. He hadn't really put much thought into which Pokemon he would start with. After all, he'd been too busy running around in each of the regions to really think about his Pokemon choice. He chose to start thinking about them now. Charmander was probably his favourite of the three Kanto starters, but he also quite liked Squirtle. Honestly, if it was his choice, he'd love to fly or teleport to Hoenn and start with a Treeko, which was probably his favourite starter out of them all. He knew that wouldn't happen though, as he wanted to start in Kanto with normal Pokemon, so as not to draw attention to the fact that he had such a rare Pokemon from a different region. Although, if it ever came into the light exactly _who_ had raised him, and what he was… Ash shuddered slightly at the mere thought of how many people would hunt him down. He quickly shook off that train of thought, and continued weighing out the advantages and disadvantages for each of the different starters. Mew came in after around half an hour, and shook her head as she saw how seriously he was thinking. She sat on a chair across from him, and floated his plate next to him. The food snapped him out of his thoughts, and he grinned at Mew before devouring it.

"Thinking about your starter, right?" He nodded. "Which do you think you'll go for?"

"I really don't know." He replied. "I'll think about it tonight and make my decision tomorrow."

"Good idea. I always like to sleep on my choices." Mew advised, and Ash was sure he knew a few choices she had slept on. "I should pack your bag tonight to save time tomorrow. After all, I'm sure you want to get going straight away after the delay."

"Yeah." He said. He placed his plate on the table in front of him. "I'll run upstairs and sort my things out now." He didn't bother to wait for Mew's reply before he left. Mew sighed quietly when he had gone, and shook her head.

"Oh Ashy. You can't hide your thoughts from me." She giggled. "There isn't a need to be worried about people finding out about me. After all, I won't be around for them to find out…" Mew stood, taking the plate from the table and balancing it on top of her own. She quickly washed them up and packed them away, thinking to herself about the next day. She could hear Ash running around his room, pulling things off shelves and putting them into his backpack. A few things must have fallen when he was getting his stuff ready, as she heard a thump and a few muffled words as they dropped to the floor and were picked up again. This caused Mew to chuckle, and she walked over to the bookshelf in the front room. Picking up a book from the very top shelf, she flipped through a few pages and smiled again. She snapped the book shut and replaced it a moment later, and went up to her own room. She started glowing as she transformed, and quickly closed the door. ' _ **You don't need to worry about me at all…'**_

* * *

Somewhere, far, far away from Pallet, and possibly the huge Pokemon World along with it, a huge creature opened its eyes, and gave the impression that it was smiling.

' _ **Good luck indeed, little Mew. Good luck indeed.'**_ The beast turned, its huge body twisting in a strange way. It flew towards a portal of some kind, though it looked more solid than anything around it. It flew through, heading to another dimension, even further than the strange place it had temporarily inhabited. ' _ **God or not, you're going to need it.'**_

* * *

 **AN: Ooooooo, spooky ending!**

 **T: That was cool! Who's the creepy thing at the end?**

 **K: Sorry Trix, we can't tell you that.**

 **SV: After all, that would spoil the fun of trying to guess!**

 **P: You two are aware she'll just steal all the notes for the story like she did in New Beginnings, right?**

 **T: That's true! I won't spoil it though. It'll be fun to see all the readers making theories about what that thing was.**

 **K: Shadow, is she always like this?**

 **P: Yes. All the time. You'll get used to it though.**

 **SV: Well guys, enjoy spending time formulating an idea as to what that creature was. I won't spoil much, but I will tell you that it'll be a recurring character. I'll never refer to it by name, but surely you'll figure it out as the story progresses. Also, two more weeks to say if you want Ash to have Pikachu or not. If no, then leave a suggestion for its replacement. Bye guys!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hello again guys!**

 **K: Good news all! We'll actually start the journey!**

 **T: Finally! It's been five chapters worth of exposition!**

 **P: But it'll be helpful for later on. I hope… otherwise the two of you just wasted your time.**

 **SV: Oh well. We don't own Pokemon, now go read the start of the journey!**

* * *

 **Chapter 11.**

* * *

Ash was lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. Despite knowing that he needed to sleep, he couldn't stop the thoughts racing through his head. He didn't know which starter he would pick the next morning. He knew he should stop worrying though. After all, the others had started before him, so it's not like he should care. Gary had started two days before his visit to the Hall, along with another kid. The Professor should have had another set of starters since, but if not he'd go with the Pokemon that was left. That settled, Ash turned over in bed once again. He checked the clock to make sure that the alarm was set for the next morning, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The clock beeped a few times, startling the young Mew awake. He floated out of bed, and used Psychic to disable the alarm. Stretching as he transformed, Ash quickly remembered why today was a special day and changed into his traveling clothes. He wanted to be out as fast as possible, to try and make up the time he'd lost over the past week. Though, he couldn't really call the last week wasted time, as he'd spent it making tons of new friends that could end up helping on his journey. Ash carefully took the Psychic Amplifier off the outfit he had worn the day before, and attached it to the new one. Smiling, he ran out of the room, using Psychic to float this bag behind him. As he walked down the stairs, he pulled the bag over to him and glanced quickly into a small pocket in the front, checking if the box that his badge had been in was still there before swinging it over his shoulders. It was apparent that Mew had been awake before him, because there was a note and some food on the kitchen table. Ash quickly ate, wanting to leave as soon as he could, and read the note. _Hey Ashy, I hope you have a good day getting your new Pokemon. Sorry I won't be here in the morning, I've just had to go out somewhere to help with a Pokemon. I'll try and get back before you leave, but if I can't then I'll find you on the way back. Good luck dear!_ Ash chuckled and put the note down again.

"I wonder what mom's had to go and deal with." He said thoughtfully. "She said it was to do with a Pokemon… I hope that isn't one of the other legends or the hybrids." He worried. "Well, I guess I'll have to ask her when I next see her. Whenever that is." He walked out of the room, over to the front door and unlocked it with Psychic. It wasn't very late, but it was still early enough that not many people were up and about, so it was safe to close the door psychically too. Ash then started dashing towards Professor Oak's lab, wanting to get started on his journey and try to catch up to Gary and the other trainers that had started in the past week or so. Gary and Ash had butted heads on several occasions, but were still quite good friends. They had always spent lots of time at the lab, playing with the Pokemon. Of course, none of the Pokemon at the lab knew about Ash's relations to Mew, as he hadn't been a hybrid at the time, and Mew could cloak any of her psychic powers while disguised as Delia. That was probably a good thing, as Ash hated to think how the lab Pokemon would have reacted if they knew the truth about him and Mew. Soon Ash reached the lab, stopping his train of thoughts as he knocked on the door, ready to get his first Pokemon. Professor Oak opened the door, and smiled at the sight of Ash.

"Ah! Ash! Good to see that you're here!"

"Hey Professor!" He said. "I'm all ready to start my journey now!" Oak moved out of the doorway, letting the rather excited half Mew into the lab. The two of them walked over to the main one of the labs rooms.

"Well Ash, I'm glad that you're here, but the journey may be a problem. You see, the three Pokemon that I had to give to the new trainers have all already been taken by other trainers that were just starting out." The kind smile that had been on Ash's face disappeared.

"What? I thought that only two people were supposed to be starting this week."

"Yes, well, a girl also came to start her journey. She said she came over from a set of islands where they didn't really do Pokemon battles. She had seen some of the league battles and wanted to start traveling, so she had come here."

"Really? What was her name?" Ash was curious about the strange girl from the islands who had started here.

"I believe her name was Mia." Oak said. "Now, back to the matter at hand." Ash frowned. "Whenever you and Gary have been round with the Pokemon, you always seemed to have a special ability with breaking up fights. In fact, I recall a time when you helped to not only stop a fight between two Pokemon, but also calm down the Gyarados that had started it!" Ash nodded, remembering that day two years beforehand. A Gyarados had managed to get into a fight with an ill tempered Feraligatr. It had gotten the attention of Ash and Gary when a Hydro Pump from the Feraligatr had missed, almost hitting them. It would have if not for the fact that Mew, who had pretended to drop Ash off to play while she did some errands to be able to watch her child while invisible, had sensed the attack and warned Ash to get them to move. The two, pursued by Mew to make sure they didn't get hurt, had ran over to the commotion to see the two fighting. Ash and Mew had a small telepathic conversation quickly, before Ash told Gary to go and get Professor Oak. As soon as he was out of sight, Ash had told them to stop. The Gyarados hadn't listened, and fired a Flamethrower, causing Mew to appear and protect him. The two Water types had almost fainted at the sudden appearance of the god legendary, before getting an earful from the pink cat in Pokespeech, which Ash hadn't understood at the time. Later, Mew had explained that she had told them that they shouldn't be fighting and endangering the Pokemon that were in the ranch, as well as trying to kill the boy behind her simply because he had tried to stop them and protect the Pokemon. The Feraligatr had calmed down quite quickly, but the Gyarados was still quite angry. Mew had 'left', turning invisible and cloaking her psychic powers from any detection, and Ash had walked over to the Gyarados. He had talked to it for a while, with Mew translating for him, and helped to calm it down and figure out what was wrong. Gary had come running back with Professor Oak at that point, and saw that the Feraligatr was looking at Ash quite protectively, and with a slight bit of awe, and Gyarados looking quite embarrassed. Both Ash and Mew knew this was because they were amazed that Mew, a god among Pokemon, had protected this human in front of them. Ash had explained to Oak what was wrong, and helped to stop them fighting. Ash didn't want to take the praise, when he hadn't done much, but he couldn't just say that a Mew had appeared, protected him and stopped them arguing. He snapped his attention back to Oak. "Well, quite recently, I caught a Pokemon that was in the lab. It had been wreaking the power lines and causing a lot of trouble. Since then, I've let it out a few times to socialise with the other Pokemon, but it was quite angry at being caught, and tried to attack me. I wouldn't normally give this kind of Pokemon to a new trainer, but I think you can handle it after calming a Gyarados."

"Sure thing Professor." Ash was curious now, and wanted to know what Pokemon Oak was going to give him. "What is it?"

"I'll let you see for yourself." Oak went over to the desk and pulled a Pokeball out of a box. "Stand back a little." He warned, and Ash complied. Oak released the Pokemon from its Pokeball, and the white energy took the form of a Pikachu. It looked around, growling, and its eyes settled on Oak, then Ash.

' _ **What does this stupid human want now!'**_ He demanded. ' _ **Am I here to be a stupid bit of entertainment to this dumb kid?'**_ Ash sweatdropped; when Oak had said it was an angry Pokemon, he hadn't expected this. Still, he had to be careful about making sure that Oak didn't realise he could understand Pokemon now, thanks to his transformation into a hybrid.

"I see what you mean when you said he was angry." Ash told Oak.

"Do you think you can handle him?" Oak asked, worried.

"Of course. I'm sure we'll get along just fine." Ash said, taking the Pokeball from Oak.

' _ **Don't bet on it kid.'**_ He said angrily. Oak walked over to the computer, and with a nervous glance to the new trainer and his Pokemon, he typed in a few things on the computer and put a Pokedex into the machine. A few moments later, the computer dinged and he pulled the Pokedex out.

"Here you go Ash. You're now registered as an official Pokemon trainer. I assume that you'll be going for the Pokemon League, correct?" Ash nodded. "Well, good luck in your endeavors. You can register for the league at Pewter City, which also has the first gym." Ash waved goodbye to the Professor and walked out. Pikachu followed, though it was just because Ash had his Pokeball. Speaking of which, Ash now turned to Pikachu once he got outside. He attempted to return Pikachu to his Pokeball, but the small electric mouse jumped out of the way of the beam, showing that he hated the Pokeball just as much, if not more, than he hated Ash. He grinned a little, getting the weird feeling that Pikachu would be finding out about him soon, and be even more embarrassed than the Gyarados was. Ash went walking towards Route 1, and Pikachu unwillingly followed behind, muttering about stupid kids all the time.

"Hey Pikachu, are you going to be rude the entire way?" Ash asked, without turning around. "Because I really hope we can get along."

' _ **Why would I try and get along with the likes of you, anyway?'**_

"Because, despite what you might think, we have more in common than you might know."

' _ **What on earth is that kid going on about?'**_ Pikachu mused, not bothering to stay quiet as he didn't realise that Ash could understand him. He thought the first reply had been a coincidence.

"You'll see. I need to meet up with someone first." Ash replied. Pikachu looked at his back, surprise evident in his eyes. The kid had understood him! This was quite surprising for him, as no human understood Pokemon, if that Professor was anything to go by.

' _ **You… can understand me?'**_ He said quietly, as though he didn't believe it.

"Yes, I can. I'll explain why when we meet up with the other person I mentioned." Ash replied, walking onto the road to Viridian.

 _A trainer that understands me?_ Pikachu thought. _Maybe this trip won't be too bad, if I can convince him to let me go._ Pikachu ran to catch up to his trainer, wanting to try to talk more to him, but the two were knocked over by another trainer. Pikachu looked at him strangely. _What the heck? This kid looks identical to this trainer! He even has a Pikachu!_ The copy of Ash stopped and helped Ash stand up.

"Hey, are you from Pallet Town?"

"Yeah, why?"

"The Phantom Pokemon was seen flying around a few days ago! I'm going to see if I can catch it, or at least see it!"

"Well, good luck then." Ash said awkwardly. He didn't want to say anything about said Phantom Pokemon, after all, it had raised him! He decided to lie. "I haven't seen anything of this Pokemon, but good luck to you hunting for it." Pikachu narrowed his eyes, easily picking up the lie.

"By the way, I'm Richie! I'm trying to get into the Pokemon League, so I want to try and see if the Phantom Pokemon will bring me good luck."

"I'm Ash. I'm a starting trainer too!"

"Cool! Hope to see you in the league!" Richie said, before sprinting off towards Pallet.

"Wow. Nice kid." Ash said, dusting himself off.

' _ **You were lying.'**_ Pikachu said accusingly.

"What?" The sudden question from the Pokemon who seemed to hate him threw him off.

' _ **About the Phantom Pokemon. You were lying about not seeing it.'**_

"Well, I guess I should say a bit now, huh?" Ash said. _But I'll keep the bombshell until I can call for Mew._

' _ **Well? What is it?'**_

"Mew." Ash said simply, lowering his voice. Pikachu's eyes bulged. "She saved my life from a Flamethrower attack when I tried to stop a Gyarados fighting with a Feraligatr two years ago."

' _ **What!'**_ The small mouse exclaimed.

"I'll tell you the full story later, if you want." He offered. Pikachu nodded dumbly, and Ash looked at the sky. "Come on, we need to meet my friend." Pikachu was still in some shock from the fact that Ash had met and been saved by Mew, so Ash picked him up and walked to a clearing that he knew was nearby. As he reached it, Pikachu snapped out of his shock and realised that Ash was carrying him. He flinched a little, but relaxed when he realised how careful Ash was being.

 _He must be worried that I'll shock him._ Pikachu thought, a little sad at the thought of that. Ash quickly put him down, and he looked around, trying to see who this person was.

' _ **Where's this person you want to meet?'**_

"Hang on, I've got to call her." Ash said, closing his eyes. ' _Hey mom, do you hear me?'_

' _Yeah, I hear you.'_ Mew replied. ' _Is something wrong?'_

' _No, I just wanted you to meet my new Pokemon. I also need to tell you something, but I think that it can wait.'_

' _Ok. I'll fly over there in a moment. Just stay where you are, I can find you from your psychic power.'_ Ash sent her a mental nod and opened his eyes. Pikachu was looking at him like he was slightly crazy. "She's coming. I'll set up a camp here while we wait."

' _ **Who is it?'**_ Pikachu wasn't able to stop his curiosity at meeting this person, even if he didn't expect to stay around very long.

"You'll see." Ash said, turning his back on his Pokemon so he wouldn't see the grin spreading across his face. _And boy, will you be shocked._

* * *

 **Chapter 12.**

* * *

A half hour passed before Mew arrived. Ash had sent up a tent, and was looking at Pikachu's moveset when he sensed Mew was approaching. He put away the Pokedex and looked up, seeing the smallest blob of pink in the sky. Pikachu looked up too, confused as to what his trainer was doing.

' _ **What're you looking at?'**_

"She's here." Ash said simply, getting ready for the incoming hug from Mew and billion questions from Pikachu. ' _Oh, mom, I haven't told Pikachu about us yet. I was waiting for you.'_

' _No problem.'_ Mew giggled back. The next thing Ash saw was a pink ball flying into him as Mew gave him a huge hug. Ash managed to catch a glimpse of Pikachu's face, and chuckled slightly to see that his face was 100 percent pure shock.

' _ **Why…'**_ Pikachu stuttered.

' _ **Oh little Pikachu, this isn't even the end of it all!'**_ Mew said, letting go of Ash and patting the mouse on the head. ' _ **Ashy, you should transform too.'**_ Ash grinned, and an arrangement of bubbles surrounded him as he transformed. The smaller blue Mew took his place, and flew over to his mother, grinning widely at Pikachu's face.

' _ **What.'**_ Pikachu just said blankly.

' _ **This is what I meant when I said we had more in common than you thought.'**_ Ash told him, sitting next to the little mouse, with Mew next to Ash.

 _ **But… you look human.'**_ He whined.

' _ **I'm not a legend. I'm a hybrid. Half and half, and the reason I'm a shiny.'**_

' _ **Yup!'**_ Mew said happily. ' _ **I adopted him when he was two after an incident with the Creation trio. I only swapped him last week though.'**_

' _ **Now that I think of it, Diarmad and Pearlina both were pretty nervous when we visited, though Glaucus wasn't as bad.'**_ Ash mused.

' _ **Well, I gave them a right yelling at when the three of them were all next at the Hall.'**_ Mew said, slightly angry. Ash giggled.

' _ **I don't know why, but I have a hard time thinking that you were able to tell those three off. Though, you are a god even higher than them, so I don't know why I'm surprised.'**_

' _ **What is going on?'**_ Pikachu sighed. ' _ **I get a trainer, even though I hate them, and it turns out to be a Mew's child?'**_

' _ **Yep.'**_ Mew said, floating to his other side. ' _ **Now, Ashy, what was it you wanted to talk about?'**_

' _ **Just read my mind, it'll be faster.'**_ Ash told her. Her eyes glowed a bright pink as she scanned the memories of the event from just outside of Pallet. She hummed.

' _ **I don't think that'll be a problem. After all, I'm not going to be staying there.'**_ Ash looked at Mew, confused, and she giggled. ' _ **Oh, I forgot I hadn't told you about the plan! Then again, Arcy has been pushing against the idea for a while now.'**_ Mew glowed a bright white colour, and a human girl of around ten took her place.

' _ **What are you doing?' Ash asked her.**_

'I'll be traveling with you too!' She said. 'I'm Mia, a new Pokemon trainer from some far off islands!'

' _ **Hey, Professor Oak said that a girl named Mia had taken the last Pokemon he had to give.' Ash told her. 'That why I've got Pikachu here!'**_

"Opps. I didn't realise that Oak wouldn't have had any new Pokemon for you to pick from. Sorry about that."

' _ **It's fine. After all, I've got Pikachu.'**_ Ash said, patting said Pokemon on the head.

"Hey, change back and I'll introduce you to my starter Pokemon!" Mew instructed. Ash nodded and floated over near the tents, and transformed. Pikachu was still in some shock from the fact that the trainer who had taken him from Oak was the child of Mew, so Ash just left him alone. "Ok Crimson, time to meet our teammates!" A Charmander popped out of the Pokeball and looked around.

' _ **Miss Mew, are we battling?'**_

"No. I wanted you to meet Ash and Pikachu." Crimson's gaze focused on them both.

' _ **Oh! Are you Miss Mew's child? It's an honour to meet you.' She said, bowing. 'And is this your partner?'**_ Her gaze shifted to Pikachu.

"Yeah, this is my friend." Ash said, looking at Pikachu.

"Hey Ash, why do you have a tent set up?" Mew asked. "It's midday."

"Well, I was planning on staying here to do some training." Ash started.

"Well now I'm here, so there's no need for that!" Mew said happily. "Crimson, Pikachu, it's time to train!" Mew clicked her fingers, and the small group teleported with a pink flash.

* * *

 **AN: And we've finally started the journey!**

 **P: I like the idea of Mew traveling with Ash under the disguise of Mia.**

 **T: Yeah, it sounds fun. Will Mew Games be something that occurs in this story often?**

 **K: Sometimes. They'll be used for almost all of the training that Ash and Mia do, but we won't really go into much detail on then aside from this first one, a couple of the group trainings that we have planned during special events and some very special needs for some Pokemon in solo training, which may or may not have something to do with their backstories.**

 **SV: We don't plan to give Ash a Charmander, as Mia has one, unless we get a ton of support for Ash and Charmander before the event with Damian. Finally, Mew is going to be referred to as Mia, even in telepathy if they use it to talk privately.**

 **P: And for everyone who's going to be angry about Pikachu, Shadow got a lot of reviews and some messages for him.**

 **T: So, sorry? And for Xperior, Shadow said she won't use Larvesta because it's basically a pseudo legend. And it holds the record for the most levels to evolve one stage.**

 **P: It doesn't sound like a good idea for a starter. Speaking of which, that was not the Renegade Pokemon. So no to those guesses. Good choice though.**

 **K: Anyway, we'll be seeing all of you next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Mew Games have arrived!**

 **K: Oh no.**

 **SV: It really won't be that bad.**

 **P: It won't. Until Trix decides to use some ideas from the games to prank us.**

 **T: That's a good idea! Thanks sis!**

 **K: We don't own Pokemon, now go have fun reading!**

* * *

 **Chapter 13.**

* * *

Ash, Mew, Crimson and Pikachu all landed in a huge field. They looked around and saw it was bordered by mountains on one side, and an ocean along the other. Crimson flinched as she saw the huge waves crashing on the shore, but they were far enough away that the spray didn't get anywhere near the four. The two 'humans' then changed to their Pokemon forms, and the two Mew floated next to them, grinning.

' _ **Whoa! Where are we?'**_ Pikachu gasped, looking around wildly.

' _ **It's another dimension!'**_ Ash answered.

' _ **Yep! I used this place to play games with Ashy when he was little, but I haven't had much use for it recently.'**_ Mew said, twirling around. ' _ **So now I'm going to use this for training you guys now instead!'**_ Ash looked a little worried.

' _ **What do you think we should do to train?'**_ He asked.

' _ **Well, Pikachu aren't really known for their defensive power, and isn't too offensive either. For now I think that we should just work on offensive this time, and we can work on defence tomorrow.'**_ Mew waved a paw, and the two starters were surrounded in a dome.

' _ **Errr, Miss Mew?'**_ Pikachu said, looking worriedly at the dome. ' _ **What are we going to do?'**_

' _ **Well, me and Ashy are going to race around the island a few dozen times, but you two are going to be fighting.'**_ Mew grinned somewhat evilly. ' _ **Have fun!'**_ Mew grabbed Ash's tail with her own and teleported them. Crimson looked at Pikachu.

' _ **Well, I hope that you can deal with Rock types.'**_ Crimson told him.

' _ **Not really, no.'**_ He replied, looking around worriedly. ' _ **Why's that?'**_

' _ **I've done this bit of training before, over the last two days that I've been with Miss Mew.'**_ She grinned at the worried mouse. ' _ **It normally involves me going solo against a group of Rock types. Miss Mew makes it easy when I'm alone, but because there's two of us there'll be more Pokemon attacking.'**_ Before Pikachu could reply, the dome expanded, getting close to the mountains before stopping. Platforms appeared, floating in the air, and Crimson lept to one. ' _ **Get up friend! You don't want to be down there when the first wave hits!'**_ A rumbling echoed from the right, and both Pokemon looked to see a group of Tyrunt and Cranidos charging them.

' _ **Ohhhh boy.'**_ Pikachu said. ' _ **That is a lot of fossils.'**_

' _ **Yeah. I'd say get up here now.'**_

' _ **I think that's smart.'**_ Pikachu jumped onto the platform next to Crimson. ' _ **Any idea what these are?'**_

' _ **The ones with the blue heads are Cranidos, and the small T-Rex's are Tyrunt. Tyrunt is part Dragon, but Cranidos is purely Rock.'**_

' _ **When did you learn that?'**_

' _ **The first day I was here, Miss Mew gave me a crash course in Rock types. The first gym in Kanto is that type. You'll probably get something similar later on.'**_ The Charmander stopped talking of a second, glancing down into the pit of fossil Pokemon. She shot a somewhat small Ember at them, which knocked a few out.

' _ **Did… did you just knock out those Rock types with a fire attack?'**_ Pikachu asked, confused.

' _ **Yeah, so?'**_ Crimson shrugged. ' _ **Miss Mew makes it easier when we're young. It'll get harder as we grow more powerful. Here, add a Thundershock to my Ember when I fire.'**_ Confused, Pikachu used Thunder Shock, and Ember wrapped around it. The result crashed into the Pokemon, knocking most of them out. The rest were finished by a couple of Embers.

' _ **That was cool. Where'd you pick you that one?'**_

' _ **Miss Mew liked to travel a lot before she got Master Ash.'**_ Crimson shrugged. ' _ **She told me she saw it from a trainer with a Dratini. The Dratini had tons of control over its attacks, and was able to use both Flamethrower and Thunderbolt at the same time, causing a more powerful version of that.'**_

' _ **Wow!'**_ Pikachu said. ' _ **That sounds awesome! Do you think we can meet that trainer?'**_

' _ **That isn't likely. They're a lot older that me, and I think they're in Sinnoh for a holiday.'**_ Both starters jumped, and turned to see the young blue Mew floating behind them.

' _ **Wha? How long have you been there?'**_ Pikachu asked his trainer.

' _ **Just got here.'**_ He replied. ' _ **But yeah, the trainer Mom told you about lives in Pallet, and their team is pretty cool. We might be able to make some combo's like they did.'**_

' _ **You know them?'**_

' _ **They live pretty close to us. Like I said, they're on holiday at the moment.'**_ Ash looked at the fossil Pokemon below them. ' _ **I think you're done, by the way.'**_

' _ **As do I.'**_ Mew said, teleporting in. ' _ **Should we start on defense?'**_

' _ **Hang on.'**_ Ash focused for a moment, and opened a little viewing panel in the air, showing the outside area near their camp. The sun was still pretty high, so Ash closed the panel. ' _ **Right. Let's try and get a stronger move for these two first. Maybe Iron Tail and Metal Claw. Then we can move on to the defensive.'**_

' _ **Alright.'**_ Mew replied. She was taking orders from her child, surprisingly. ' _ **I can teach Metal Claw to Crimson. Are you going to deal with Pikachu?'**_

' _ **Yep.'**_ Ash transformed into a Pikachu himself, and Mew became a Charmeleon. The knocked out fossil Pokemon disappeared, and the barrier evaporated into the air. He looked to the little electric type while Mew went to Crimson. ' _ **Right, so here's the basics of how it works…'**_

* * *

A few hours later, both young starters had mastered the new move.

' _ **Good job guys!'**_ Mew said happily, turning back to her normal form. ' _ **That's sure to surprise anyone!'**_

' _ **That's right. It isn't often that new trainers teach Pokemon these kind of moves.'**_ Ash continued, transforming too. The blue Mew turned, once again opening a little portal. It was a few hours until evening. ' _ **I think we should leave for now, and get moving to Viridian City.'**_

" _ **Ok. Let's go. I'll pack the tent for you."**_ Mew shifted to her form as Mia, and Ash turned human too. They flickered out of the warped dimension, and landed in a bush near the camp. Mia lead the way. "By the way, don't forget to call me Mia."

"Of course not." Ash said. Mia waved her hand, and the tent packed itself up, then teleported away. "Where did you send it?"

"Back to the training ground. I've changed it slightly, so there's a house on the mountain. We can keep our stuff there."

"What happens if we get human travelling companions?"

"I'll think of something. Remember, I'm the trickster with billions of years worth of practise. And I've been avoiding humans for just as long, I can make an explanation for this." Ash rolled his eyes.

"And I thought you had gotten better since you adopted me." He sighed. "Anyway, let's get going." He floated a map out of his bag, taking a look at it. One of the things he had learnt over the week of travelling to the middle of nowhere multiple times is reading a map. Because of this, he had several maps in his bag of all the different regions, which Mew had brought for him. Even though they had been teleporting to most of the places, they had been far enough away that they still had to fly at least part of the way. He turned until he was facing the right way, and placed the map in his bag again. "Right, it's this way." He said.

"Crimson, return for now." Mia said, pointing the ball at her Pokemon. "By the way, are you going to nickname Pikachu? Just in case we run into any others and he gets lost."

"Good idea." Ash thought for a moment. "How about Bolt?"

' _ **I guess that's ok.'**_ He shrugged. ' _ **By the way, I'm staying out. I hate those ball things.'**_

"Sure thing bud. Let's go."

* * *

 **Chapter 14.**

* * *

The two disguised legends walked along the path. Mia's eyes were glowing faintly as she used Psychic, looking around for humans and Pokemon. Ash broke the silence that had come over them.

"So, you plan to do the league as well?"

"Of course! I didn't choose to do this _just_ to travel with you." She giggled. "I'd thought over this idea before." She continued, lowering her voice. "I've been thinking of doing this for about a century. Taking a human guise and becoming a trainer. It sounded fun."

"Why didn't you?"

"Well, I didn't think I'd be able to manage it. After all, every legendary has it's own job, so it was likely my duties would stop me from getting into the Pokemon League. I thought about being a Coordinator, because that's shorter, and it also is really creative, which is something I love, but the issue of training a team was still there. Even with warped dimensions and teleporting, I didn't think it would be safe to do it. There was also the fact that someone might figure out my real identity, even if that was unlikely."

"Didn't you say that Arceus had been against the idea of you travelling with me at first?"

"Yes, but this time I was determined. I had wanted to travel as a trainer for a century, and now my child was becoming one. It was a great reason to go too." Mia was about to say more, but was interrupted by a loud squawking, and a scream. All three looked over, and ran towards it without a word.

' _What do you think that was?'_ Ash said telepathically, causing Bolt to jump slightly.

' _It sounded like Spearow.'_ Mia replied. ' _But the scream, I couldn't say.'_ Her eyes glowed much brighter as she used a more powerful scan. ' _I can see a girl, not sure of her age, and a flock of Spearow. I think that she must have disturbed them. No Pokemon out, so she either doesn't have one, or they're all knocked out.'_

' _Right. Bolt, get ready. Most powerful Thundershock you can manage.'_

' _Crimson can help too. They can use that Flare Shock move from before.'_ Mia added, sending out her starter. ' _Let's go.'_ She stopped her Psychic scan, letting the pink glow die down, and they burst through the trees. A ginger haired girl was surrounded by Spearow, like Mia had said. Crimson and Bolt fired their attacks, and the Flare Shock attack flash fried most of the attacking Pokemon. Mia ran over and helped the girl up, leaving Ash in command of both Pokemon.

' _You get her out of here, ok?'_ Ash said to Mia.

' _Of course. I'll be back in a minute.'_ She replied, helping the girl out of the area.

"Right. Can you two do that again?" He asked the starters. They responded by firing another Flare Shock, knocking out a few more, and causing the rest of them to flee. Mia had gotten quite far away in the meantime, helping the ginger haired girl away. Ash and the starters stayed where they were, ready to attack if the Pokemon came back. He closed his eyes for a moment, and reopened them filled with a blue glow. Glancing around with the Psychic scan active, Ash kept an eye out for the flock in case they came back. A crashing from behind alerted them to Mia's return.

"How did that go?" She asked. Ash lowed the scan and turned.

"Fine. Is that girl ok?"

"Yeah. I got her out of the way and told her to get going to Viridian. She should get there before the storm hits. We should go too." Ash nodded, and Mia returned Crimson again.

* * *

The three travelers didn't quite get to Viridian before the storm. Lightning crackled a bit away, and Mia looked over worriedly.

"I was hoping to avoid this."

"Oh well." Ash replied. "If we need too, we can just make a bubble to stay in."

"I guess so." Mia laughed slightly. "It really won't be much of a problem, will it?" Ash was about to answer, but a lot of flapping cut him off. Both 'humans' made another Psychic scan, and looked in the same direction.

' _Looks like those Spearow are back.'_ Mia said.

' _Bolt, can you and Crimson do another of those attacks? You can think a reply, we'll pick it up.'_

 _I can try._ The psychic's picked up Bolt's thought for his answer.

' _We can't.'_ Mia interrupted. ' _Rain, remember?'_

' _Oh right.'_ Ash blushed. ' _Can we get rid of them with ThunderShock?'_

' _No need.'_ Mia said, looking at the sky with bright pink eyes. ' _A friend of ours is here to help.'_ Ash was going to ask who, but the sound of a huge Pokemon made him look up too. A bright rose red flame burst out, hitting the flock and frying one of them. That one was knocked out, and the rest of the flock scattered, leaving as fast as they could.

"Huh." Ash said, looking at the sky as it started to clear. "Looks like the phoenix's are here."

' _ **The… phoenix's?'**_ Bolt said, confused. ' _ **Who are they?'**_

"Friends of ours." Mia replied, searching the sky. Before Bolt could talk again, a gold and silver Pokemon glided down, perching next to them and folding its wings.

' _ **Hello Ash.'**_ It said, looking a him.

"Hello again Helina!" He replied, smiling. "What brings you here?" Ash had met the Ho-oh hybrid on the third day of visiting week, at the Tin Tower in Johto.

' _ **We just got back from visiting Lena and the twins.'**_ She said, bringing her head down to his level. Like the other hybrids, she was much smaller than the actual legend, but she was still much taller than the human forms of the others. ' _ **You've started your journey, then?'**_

"Yep!" Ash said. "This is Bolt, my starter." He motioned to the Pikachu, who was staring at the shiny Ho-oh. "Bolt, this is Helina. I met her last week."

' _ **I should not be surprised.'**_ He shook his head. ' _ **Is she like you?'**_

"Yeah. Any shiny legend is."

' _ **Who's the other human?'**_ Helina asked. ' _ **She doesn't look very surprised to see me.'**_

"I'm Mia. At least, in this form." The Ho-oh looked at Mia strangely, and she undid her transform. She flew in a circle for a moment, the reapplied her human shape.

' _ **Huh. Neat.'**_ She said. ' _ **Anyway, Meema and me need to be going. We need to get back to the Beast's.'**_ She spread her wings, flapping gently to take off.

"Ok. We'll be sure to visit when we get to Johto!" Ash shouted, waving goodbye. The shiny bird hovered over them, and Helios flew over to her. Both waved a wing in farewell, and flew off, headed west, towards Johto. The others on the ground watched them fly away, and turned to go. Ash felt something land on his head, and reached up. Two feathers, one red and one gold, were in his hand.

"Rainbow Wings." Mia told him, already knowing what they were. "Helios and Helina must be leaving these as a gift. The human's have legends that if you see Ho-oh, you get granted eternal happiness."

"That's cool." Ash passed the feathers to Mia, who waved her hand in the air and conjured some string. She wrapped it a few times around the end of each feather, and handed the golden one to Ash. "What's with this?"

"May as well keep them as a good luck charm." Mia shrugged. "Oh, and I made a Psychic link on the string. It'll teleport back to you if stolen." Ash grinned, and both put them on as necklaces. "Let's get going. We might still get to Viridian before dark."

* * *

 **AN: Finally!**

 **K: What's wrong?**

 **T: Writer's block. Lot's and lot's of writer's block.**

 **P: Trix made up most of the training, while I did the bit with the Ho-oh's!**

 **K: I hope we didn't fry Shadow. She has other things to do.**

 **SV: I'll be fine. Just give me a few days and a sketchpad or something. By the way, that Flare Shock comes from New Beginnings. As the team gets more Pokemon, I'll bring over a few of the other combo's, and maybe use them over there.**

 **T: Wait, was that…?**

 **P: Trixie, quiet! No spoilery things!**

 **SV: Anyway, I'm drained, so I'll see you all later.**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Hello again everyone!**

 **K: I see you're better.**

 **SV: Yeah, that hiatus was really helpful.**

 **P: Am I right in thinking that this is the forest?**

 **SV: It is a bit.**

 **K: Anything we need to talk about first?**

 **T: I can't think of anything. We can do it after if there is.**

 **SV: Right. Let's go!** **-**

* * *

 **Chapter 15.**

* * *

Ash and Mia walked towards Viridian City, both Bolt and Crimson outside and walking with them. Crimson and Bolt were talking in the background, and Ash was examining the Rainbow Wing. It was a shiny one, showing that it came from Helina, not Helios. Bolt was explaining to Crimson what had happened during the storm, due to the fact that she couldn't have been out in the rain. She didn't seem as surprised as Bolt that they had seen both Ho-oh and his daughter.

' _ **Well, we are travelling with Miss Mew and Master Ash, so I think we can expect to meet most of the legendaries in Kanto, along with their children.'**_

"That's probably true." Ash said to Crimson, joining the conversation. "But don't forget, they do have jobs, and along with the hybrids, they won't just be appearing out of nowhere." He lowered his voice slightly. "Oh, and by the way, Mew is Mia. Remember, it isn't necessarily just hybrids that can understand Pokemon, though it is likely to be them. So if you don't mind, be careful what you call us. And no 'master' on my end either, please."

' _ **Ok Ash.'**_ Crimson replied.

' _ **So, what are we doing first?'**_ Bolt asked.

"We're going to stay in Viridian City for the rest of today, and maybe we'll head through Viridian forest tomorrow. We might stay on Route 1 for a while."

"Sounds like a good plan Ash." Mia said. "We can get some training done too."

"Not like it matters, if you just plan to warp to another dimension."

"True. We should probably try and do some training in the real world too, though. Just because our Pokemon might get too powerful too fast, which could cause some people to be suspicious."

"That's true." Ash shrugged. "Oh well, let's hurry up." He held out his arm for Bolt, who jumped up to his shoulder. Crimson bounced over to Mia, who picked her up. She curled her tail forwards a little, making sure to keep the flame away from her shirt.

"Don't worry about the flame. I'm Psychic, remember? I can keep it away myself."

' _ **Ok. I'll be careful anyway.'**_ She snuggled into Mia's arms.

"Hey Mia, do you think the gym will go ok?"

"It should. We might want to catch a Pokemon in the forest, though it will have a type disadvantage."

"We can't expect these two to be able to beat the gym alone, even with our special training." Ash replied.

"Halt!" A voice interrupted their conversation. An Officer Jenny walked up to the four of them. "Where are you going with those Pokemon?"

"We're taking them to the Pokemon Center." Mia said coolly. "They got into a bit of a fight with a few Spearow, and we want to be sure that they're ok."

"Ok then. It's just odd to see Pokemon outside of their Pokeballs. Just show me your I.D and you can go." Ash and Mia pulled their Pokedexs out of their pockets and passed them to the officer. She looked them over for a few moments before nodding and handing them back. "Ok, thanks. You two twins?"

"Cousins." Mia answered before Ash. "Mind if we go?"

"Of course." Mia and Ash ran over to the Pokemon Center and walked through the doors.

' _Cousins?'_ Ash asked silently.

' _Why not?'_ Mia retorted, giggling. Ash rolled his eyes.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokemon Center. How can we help you?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Can you give these two a check over please?" Mia asked, placing Crimson on the desk as Bolt hopped next to her.

"Also, can we get a room each for the night?" Ash added.

"Of course. Here." Nurse Joy bought a pair of keys out from below the desk and passed them over to Mia. "Is there anything else?"

"No, thank you." Mia smiled. The two went and sat over in the waiting area to let Nurse Joy heal their Pokemon.

' _Do you think you'd do contests?'_ Ash asked Mia.

' _I might. From what I remember, contests aren't really a thing in Kanto or Johto. It's mostly Hoenn and Sinnoh that do them.'_

' _Yeah, I remember that Sarah and Shannon liked to watch them.'_ Ash smiled. ' _Those were some pretty funny stories.'_

' _Yeah. I'm surprised that Sarah would be ok with pretending to be a plush toy.'_ Mia snickered mentally.

' _Well, it's not like they can get TV reception on the Gracidea Island. At least Shannon looks old enough to be a trainer.'_

"Mia Mauller and Ash Ketchum, your Pokemon are healed!" The two stood up and walked to the desk. Bolt jumped straight up to Ash's shoulder, while Mia picked up Crimson.

' _Nice last name choice. Has a nice ring to it.'_

"Thanks." Mia replied aloud, speaking to both Nurse Joy and Ash's telepathic statement.

"Is there anything else you need?" She asked.

"No thank you, that's-" The rest of her sentence cut off as the sound of glass shattering came from behind, and the room filled with smoke. Both of them turned sharply.

"What the heck was that?" Ash gasped.

"Don't know." Mia replied. ' _Start a psych scan?'_

' _I agree.'_ Both of their eyes started to shine with a pink glow, and they looked at the area. Bolt and Crimson were stood at their side, and Nurse Joy was behind them, so it was easy to ignore those. Mia looked like a bright pink star, and Ash slightly dimmer, but that didn't even bother them. They were too used to it. What they _did_ notice, however, was the five psychs on the other end of the room.

' _Two Poison types, a Normal type, and two humans.'_ Mia stated.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"  
"To unite all people within our nation!"  
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"  
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"  
"Jessie!"  
"James!"  
"Team Rocket blasting off at the speed of light!"  
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"  
"Meowth! That's right!"  
"What the heck?" Ash asked again.

"A talking Pokemon?" Mia gasped. Ash raised an eyebrow and shot her a hidden glance.

' _Like you're one to talk.'_

"What are you doing here?" She shouted at them, choosing to ignore Ash's statement.

"Why, stealing the Pokemon, of course." The woman, who had referred to herself as Jessie in the crazy song motto, told her.

"And I think we'll start with those two." James continued, pointing at Bolt and Crimson.

"There's no way you'll get to any of the Pokemon here! Crimson, Ember!"

"Bolt, knock them into it with Quick Attack!" Bolt flickered out of view and rammed into the Ekans, which crashed into the Koffing next to it. Crimson bathed them in fire, which caused them both to fly backwards.

' _They aren't very bright, are they?'_ Mia snarked.

 _Or powerful._ Bolt added, the Psychics picking it up. Mia passed it on to Crimson, who nodded.

"Meowth! Get them!" Jessie yelled, whacking him.

"Right!" He slowly charged forwards, ready to scratch at them.

' _Jeez, I have barely any training and I can do better than that.'_ Ash telepathed, rolling his eyes. "Bolt, Thundershock." He deadpanned aloud.

' _ **Got him boss!'**_ He said cheerfully, shocking the cat Pokemon back to his team.

"I think we should retreat!" James yelled.

"We agree!" The other two chorused, running out of the doors.

"No you don't! Flare Shock!" Ash and Mia shouted. Their voices merged with anothers from outside.

"Hydro Pump!" The three attacks exploded on the Rockets, and they went flying into the sky.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off!"

"Good job you two!" Mia smiled at the little Pokemon.

' _ **Thanks!'**_ Crimson grinned back.

' _ **Where did that Hydro Pump come from?'**_ Bolt asked, sniffing around.

"Hey, is everything alright?" A girl said, running into the center.

"Yeah, thanks." Ash replied.

"That's good. I saw the three that just went flying run out, and had my Starmie use Hydro Pump to stop them. Then those other attacks happened. Any idea what they were?"

' _ **Well, I guess that answers that.'**_ Crimson sighed.

"Yeah, that was a combo I saw once. It's called Flare Shock." Mia answered.

"It pretty much just wraps Ember in Thundershock." Ash explained.

"Well, it looked really powerful." She smiled. "I'm Misty, by the way."

"I'm Ash, and this is my cousin Mia." He replied. Mia smiled at her, then frowned.

"Hey… aren't you the girl who was being attacked by those Spearow earlier?"

"Yeah, that was me." Misty grinned. "Thanks for helping me out."

"Not a problem." Mia assured her.

"And thank you for saving the center." Nurse Joy told them all, appearing from the back room.

"Like my cousin said, it isn't a problem. Those three were pathetically easy to beat anyway." Ash shrugged.

' _ **As pathetic as they were, I still want a nap.'**_ Bolt yawned. ' _ **Can we go to sleep now?'**_

' _ **Oh come on.'**_ Crimson scoffed. ' _ **You're that tired after those three?'**_

' _ **No!'**_ He quickly denied, shaking his head. ' _ **I just want to sleep, that's all!'**_

' _ **Sure.'**_ She rolled her eyes. Bolt glared at her, and she glared back, not moving an inch.

"They sure seem like good friends." Misty said, giggling at the scene.

"Yeah, they are." Mia replied, giggling as well. She picked up Crimson. "Come on you two, stop being silly."

' _ **Ok Miss M… Mia.'**_ Crimson caught herself before she finished the sentence, and snuggled into Mia, keeping her tail flame away. Ash chuckled, and picked Bolt up too.

"Same for you, little one." He grinned at Bolt.

' _ **Be quiet. I'm the same height in your other form.'**_ He fired back, bobbing his tongue out at Ash before doing the same as Crimson.

"Nurse Joy, do you mind if I get a room for tonight?" Misty asked, moving past the two Mew and their Pokemon friends.

"Of course." She smiled, passing a third key over the counter. Bolt yawned quietly, trying to stifle it, but the sharper hearing of the young hybrid picked it up.

"Looks like someone's sleepy." He grinned.

' _ **Am not.'**_

"Yes you are little one." He retorted. "Come on, to bed with you." He walked out, with the small Pikachu protesting quietly. Misty giggled.

"They seem to get along well. He really understands Pikachu."

"Yeah, my cousin only got him today. He's always been really good with Pokemon, though."

"Only a day?" Misty said, shocked.

"Yep. Funny story is, he wasn't supposed to get Pikachu. I ending up getting the last Pokemon from the Professor, and I didn't realise Ash was supposed to be starting today as well."

"Do you come from Pallet too?"

"No, I live on a group of islands called Faraway. We aren't into battling much there, but I decided I wanted to try a league or two. I ended up getting Crimson here from the Professor the other day, and met Ash on Route 1. Bolt, his Pikachu, had run off and I thought he was wild."

"Sounds like that went over well."

"It went great. Then I ran into Ash, and we started travelling together."

"I really want to hear more about these islands, but I need to get to sleep too. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow." The redhead walked the same way as Ash.

' _Hey Mia, how do I keep my form overnight?'_

' _Easy, just store more Psychic energy in the form lock you put up.'_

' _Thanks. Goodnight.'_

' _Night to you too.'_ Mia walked over to the videophones in the corner and rang a number she had gotten as Delia.

"Hi Professor!"

"Hello Mia. What have you been up to?"

* * *

 **Chapter 16.**

* * *

The next morning, Mia ended up waking Ash up psychically.

' _Ash! Get up! NOW!'_

"Holy Mew!" He jumped, falling out of bed.

' _Yes, it was me, now come on!'_

' _Coming!'_

' _ **Good morning to you too.'**_ Bolt said, jumping off the pillow.

"Hey bud. Have a good night?"

' _ **Yeah, it was great until you woke me up.'**_

"Hey, blame Mia, not me. She yelled at me."

' _ **Suuurrree.'**_ He rolled his eyes and ran to the door. ' _ **Get ready, I'll go wait with the girls.'**_

"I swear…" Ash sighed, and quickly got ready, dispelling the thought.

* * *

Bolt bounced down the stairs to Mia and Crimson. He could hear them down here somewhere, and Mia had a very distinctive scent, even when disguised as a human. The fact that his new trainer was half Mew, and related to the original Mew, had been enough of a shock for the first day. He was still trying to get that fact into his head. It amazed him that she would choose to look after a human, even if Ash wasn't human anymore. And along with that, Mew was taking the form of a human, simply to be able to travel inconspicuously with her child. That was what surprised the young Pikachu the most out of everything. That _Mew_ , the goddess of everything, had adopted a human boy and was traveling with him in a vastly confined form to be with him.

"Hey Bolty." Mia waved from a table.

' _ **Hello Mia.'**_ He replied, hopping up on the table and inclining his head respectfully.

"Please, don't do that." Mia told him, patting his head. ' _Remember, I'm Mia, not Mew, and I deserve no respect aside from what I will try and earn on these travels.'_

' _ **Alright. Though, it's kinda an instinct now that I know who you are.'**_

"I get it." She chuckled quietly. "But please, do your best not to."

' _ **I'll try.'**_

"Where's Ash? I thought I called him."

"You did." Both of them, along with Crimson who had been quietly watching the exchange, looked up at him. "Thanks, by the way."

"It's my job, little cousin." Mia grinned, and Ash rolled his eyes as Bolt climbed up to his shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." He sat down next to them. "We're off to Pewter today, right?"

"That's the plan, yeah." She nodded. "We'll get some training in, and maybe catch a few new teammates."

"Sure thing." The small group kept talking and making plans, sometimes in telepathy, as they ate. As they finished everything up, the arrival of a somewhat familiar redhead caused them all to stop.

"Hi, Mia, Ash." Misty smiled.

"Morning Misty." Mia grinned. "What's up?"

"Well, I was wondering if I could travel with you through the forest." She asked awkwardly.

"Sure!" Mia replied quickly. "How come?"

"I just wanted a partner to travel with for a while, that's all."

"Alright. Feel free to come."

' _It sure doesn't seem like she just wants a partner, or is that just me?'_ Ash asked rhetorically.

' _No, I think that too. Shall I see if I can read her?'_

' _Not right now. Maybe later.'_ He replied. ' _Though, I get the feeling that we'll find out soon enough.'_

' _As do I, honestly.'_ Mia replaced her smile and nodded again. "Let's just finish clearing up."

* * *

 ***2 hours later.***

* * *

' _ **You were right Boss.'**_ Bolt said, staring at his trainer. ' _ **You were definitely right.'**_

"Yep." Mia added quietly. "Gotta admit, this is funny though." The four of them watched silently as Misty ran away from a Weedle that had surprised her.

"It is a little. You want to try and catch the Weedle, or may I?"

"I'll get it." Mia put Crimson down on the floor and walked over to the Weedle, levitating ever so slightly to avoid scaring it. "Hello there." She said softly. It jumped.

' _ **What! How did you sneak up on the mightiest of all Viridian Weedle?'**_ He shouted.

"Magic." She giggled. "Anyway, I wanted to ask if you want to join my team."

' _ **Humph!'**_ The small bug type turned his head. ' _ **What a stupid question! Not only do you humans not understand me, but there is no way you could make me strong! I have seen many new trainers pass through here, and none of them could ever have a hope of training one as powerful as me!'**_ During this small speech, Crimson had started to simmer slightly, and after it had ended she exploded.

' _ **How dare you! Miss Mia can understand you just fine, you numskull, or did you not notice that she replied perfectly? And she could train you to be much more powerful than anyone here! She isn't just some upstart trainer, she's-'**_

"Crimson, _enough_." Mia commanded in a soft tone. "He may have insulted me, but that doesn't make it necessary to do the same back. And anyway, I only asked if he wanted to join, so he has every right to refuse." The Mew stood back up and walked to her little fire type. "I think we need to work on that. Teach you to hold your anger back, and harness it properly when it is needed. We can't afford to have that happen in battle, it'll mean you end up doing something stupid."

' _ **Of course Miss. I apologize.'**_

' _ **As do I.'**_ The Weedle crawled over. ' _ **I see my rudeness was uncalled for.'**_

"Would you like to travel with me now?" Mia asked.

' _ **If you do not mind.'**_

"Of course not. Welcome to the team." She tapped him on the head and caught him.

' _ **Ooooh boy, he is going to go**_ **insane** _ **later when he figures out who he insulted.'**_ Crimson chuckled.

' _ **Yeah. We are training later, right?'**_ Bolt asked.

"Yes, we are. Same place as usual." Ash told him. Misty crept back up the slope she had run down and peered around nervously.

"Is it gone?"

"Yeah, I caught him. Your welcome." Mia smiled. "I take it you don't like Bug types?"

"No, I hate them." She shivered.

"Right." Mia leaned over and picked up Crimson. "Here." She said, handing her to Misty. "Crimson will keep you safe from Bug type, how's that?"

"Is that alright with Crimson?"

' _ **Yeah, that's ok. If it makes you more comfortable with being in the forest, sure.'**_ She replied with a nod, curling her tail to her stomach again.

"Thanks Crimson." She patted her on the head.

' _ **No problem. Now come on.'**_ She pointed forwards.

* * *

 ***3 hours later.***

* * *

"Holyhellhelp!" Misty screamed.

"What's wrong?" Ash said, turning to her. Mia had gone ahead with Crimson to find a place for their camp, so Ash was walking with Misty.

"BUG!" She shouted. Ash glanced down, and saw a Caterpie slowly crawling towards her. Ash chuckled and held out an arm.

"Bolt, hop over." The Pikachu got his meaning, and jumped to Misty's shoulder. Ash then took out a Pokeball and went over to it.

"Please don't tell me you're going to catch that." She shuddered.

"Well, I'm hoping to." He replied.

"I'm going to go find Mia then." She ran off, Bolt clinging to her shoulder.

"Right, glad she's gone. Hey Caterpie, would you like to come and travel with me?"

' _ **I guess so… I wanted to go with that red haired girl though, but you seem nice enough.'**_

"Yeah, Misty's scared of bugs. I'm not sure why, but she is. And my mom made sure that I respect Pokemon." Ash grinned.

' _ **Well, I'll come with you.'**_ Ash held out the Pokeball, and he tapped the center. Once the capture was complete, he stood.

"Right, where are the others?" He closed his eyes and looked around psychically. He found them, and started heading off.

* * *

 **AN: And done!**

 **K: I hope you're ok now.**

 **SV: A little better.**

 **P: Either way, I think we have some stuff to talk about.**

 **SV: Sure. Right, first off. New Beginnings is really close to being finished, or at least the first bit. So, my main focus will be over there and getting that finished.**

 **T: Second, Shadow has been working with Ki on another story.**

 **K: Technically, stories plural, but only one that matters. I'm not sure, but Shadow should start uploading that once New Beginnings gets done. Then after that, the uploads will be random once the next bit comes along.**

 **P: Three, Shadow rebuilt her Living Dex in Alpha Sapphire. She was pretty focused on that, so writing was slow. But either way, this is going to be taking a back seat for a few weeks to finish New Beginnings, then back to the forefront.**

 **SV: I think that's everything. I'll be seeing everyone another time!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Hi guys, next chapter here!**

 **P: How's everyone doing?**

 **SV: This is mostly a training chapter today, with a bit of forward progress on the end of the forest, and new Pokemon.**

 **K: Don't own Pokemon, nothing to talk about, let's go!**

* * *

 **Chapter 17.**

* * *

' _This is so stupid.'_ Ash broadcast.

' _I know.'_ Mia sighed. ' _Even with the patience of a few millenium, I don't think I've ever come across anything as annoying as Misty in a forest.'_ The small group had been in Viridian Forest for a day now, even though Mia knew the way perfectly, they wanted to do more training and get a few more team members. They had ended up skipping the training session they had planned for last night, leaving it for when they chose to camp later. Bolt was sitting on Ash's shoulder, with Crimson with Misty again. The small mouse had been bouncing around for most of the day, but suddenly froze, ears twitching and staring at a point in the forest.

' _ **Ash? I think we should leave. Soon.'**_

"What's wrong bud?" He asked, looking at him in concern. The question was quickly answered, when a low chorus of "Beeeedriilll…" came for the point he was looking at.

"What was that?" Misty asked shakily.

"A Beedrill swarm." Mia replied, closing her eyes and starting a Psych scan of the area. "I think something disturbed them. We should go and help. Crimson?" The Charmander got her meaning quickly, and wiggled free of Misty's hold to walk next to her trainer. Bolt jumped down too, ready to follow them.

"Why? If it's a swarm, we should run the other way." Misty argued.

"And leave them to hurt someone? No way." She retorted. "Come on. You can stay here if you want, but we need to help." The Mew and Mew hybrid ran off, leaving the redhead behind.

' _Any sort of plan?'_ Ash asked.

' _I was just going to do a Flare Shock or two on them.'_ Mia admitted.

' _Right.'_ Ash took a look psychically as well. ' _Should work. It doesn't seem to be a very big swarm. Ready, you two?'_

' _ **Of course.'**_ They replied.

"Now!" Mia instructed, as they burst into the clearing. While both attacks did their jobs, the source of the swarms anger was clear. A Pidgeotto and Scyther were crouched at the edge of the clearing, injured.

' _I'll get them.'_ She said, running over. ' _Keep an eye out.'_

' _Right.'_ Ash replied. "Keep up the Flare Shock! Keep them away!"

"It's ok, it's ok, I'm not trying to hurt you." Mia was talking quietly to the two Flying types. "Just let me help."

' _ **Retreat!'**_ One of the swarm members yelled, and the entire group flew away. Ash turned to Mia, who had laid a hand on the Scyther, who seemed worse off than the Pidgeotto, and was using Heal Pulse.

"You two good?" He asked the two starters.

' _ **Of course. That was nothing.'**_ Bolt grinned.

' _ **Plus, they**_ **are** _ **weak to Fire types.'**_ Crimson added, grinning as well.

"Yes, I know." Ash rolled his eyes. "I meant do you need a healing boost, since Mia's handling those two."

' _ **Nah, I'm fine for now.'**_ Crimson said.

' _ **Same here. May need one later though, depending on the number of Beedrill we need to fight.'**_ Bolt continued.

"Sure thing bud." He crouched down to let Bolt climb to his shoulder, then picked up Crimson. He looked back at Mia, who had now moved onto the Pidgeotto, and smiled. "Quick work."

"Of course." She smiled back. "I have way too much psychic power and plenty of practise using it." She lifted her hand. "There, you should be fine now."

' _ **Thank you.'**_ He said.

"Not a problem. What were you doing in Beedrill territory all alone?"

' _ **We got lost.'**_ He replied. ' _ **I don't really have a flock, and I met Scyther here a few weeks back. We ended up losing out way back to our home and neither of us know the way.'**_

"We'll try and help. Our friend won't be around for a while, so we have some time. I'll scan around and see if I can find anything." Mia leaned against the tree and closed her eyes, activating a Psych Scan to trace the patterns back, following the Scythers path as it was easier to see and less likely to be confused with any others.

' _ **Thank you both for helping us, but why bother?'**_ The Scyther asked from behind the Pidgeotto.

"Why wouldn't we? If a person or Pokemon is in need, we should help them. It's as simple as that." Ash shrugged. "I don't think you should need a reason to help someone, unless you know that they aren't good people. And even then, I still don't think it's right to leave them in trouble."

' _ **Our trainers are odd people, but they're definitely kind.'**_ Crimson smiled.

' _ **I can tell.'**_ Scyther smiled slightly. ' _ **You both are very lucky.'**_

' _ **Indeed. I've moved around a bit, heading a little outside the forest and over near that mountain in the distance.'**_ Pidgeotto pointed to the north east with a wing. ' _ **I've seen very few trainers, and a couple of them sure didn't seem to treat their Pokemon very well.'**_

' _ **Trust me, these two are great.'**_ Bolt grinned. ' _ **I'm not entirely sure they're even capable of mistreating a Pokemon.'**_ Crimson snickered.

' _ **You got that right.'**_

"Hate to interrupt your group chat, but I think I've found where you need to go." Mia said, opening her eyes again.

' _ **Really?'**_ He asked.

"Yep." She pointed. "Go that way for around 15 meters or so, then turn left. Keep going for a little while, then right. After that, you should be in an area that you recognise, so I think you can find your way from there."

' _ **Thank you.'**_ He took to the air. ' _ **Come on Scyther, let's go.'**_

' _ **I…'**_ She glanced between Ash and Pidgeotto.

"Let me guess; you want to go with us, huh?" Mia grinned.

' _ **Wha…? How did you know?'**_

"It was kinda easy to tell from your hesitation."

' _ **I… yeah, I would like to come with you.'**_ She suddenly looked awkward. ' _ **If that's ok with you guys, that is.'**_

"Of course it's fine." Ash smiled. "Come on, you can join my team."

' _ **Thank you.'**_ She smiled, and fluttered over to him.

' _ **Well in that case,'**_ Pidgeotto said, landing next to Mia. ' _ **I'll come with this one. She helped us out, after all, and I need to keep an eye on you.'**_

"Well, I'm game." Mia pulled out a Pokeball and held it out. "Tap it when you're ready."

"Same for me." Ash said. Both Pokemon exchanged a glance before tapping on the button in the center. Three shakes and a click, and the capture was finished.

"Are they all gone?" Misty crept around a tree.

"Yep." Mia smiled. "Bolt and Crimson got rid of them for us."

"And both of us got new captures out of it." Ash continued.

"Really?" Misty asked, interested. "What are they?"

"The Pidgeotto and Scyther that the Beedrill were attacking." Mia said. "I had the Pidgeotto, and the Scyther took a shine to Ash."

"Great. Another bug." Misty shivered.

"Well, this is a forest. Bug Pokemon are bound to be the most prominent thing around." Ash argued. He checked the time. "It's starting to get late. Let's find a place to camp, then we'll go and do some training."

"Alright." Mia said. "Why don't we just camp here? It's a good clearing, and I _think_ there's a river over in that direction." She pointed. Bolt's ears twitched.

' _ **Yeah, there is.'**_ He nodded. ' _ **Good ear.'**_

"Well, I guess that's settled." Mia put her bag down and started pulling camping equipment out of it.

"I still don't understand how all that fits in there." Misty shook her head.

"Remember I mentioned that I came from the Faraway Isles? Well, there's a mystic on one of them, not too far away from my home island, and she made this enchantment when she heard that I was going to try a league challenge or two. It should last a few years before it needs refreshing. I'm not really sure where it drops the stuff, but I think it's that really small island that my family own." She told her.

' _You are really good at telling lies.'_ Ash smiled.

' _Had to be. Spent time as a human before, so I picked up a lot of good ways to spin a tale that doesn't sound suspicious.'_ She smiled back. "Do you mind helping me set this up?"

"Sure thing." Ash said aloud. Both him and Misty moved to help, and got each of the tents set up in no time.

"Right, let's go get some training done." She said, standing up. "Come here Crims." Her Charmander walked over, having been standing out of the way while they were setting up, and was picked up by Mia. As normal, she curled her tail up towards her stomach, if only for the appearance. "We'll be going pretty far from the camp, in case it gets destructive or calls a horde of Bugs upon us because we disturbed them."

"Yeah, that's fine with me. I'll get started on cooking if you want." Misty offered. "I'm not great, but…"

"No, it's fine. I'm pretty good at cooking, so I'll deal with it when we get back." She reached into her bag with one hand and pulled out a second bag. She opened it too check what was inside, then nodded and threw it over. "There's a ton of biscuits in there if you want any."

"Right, let's rock." Ash smiled. "See you in a bit." The two of them walked into the forest for about five minutes. He glanced around. "We safe?"

"Yep." Mia replied, her eyes lighting up. "How should we do this?"

"Well, we need to check them over with the Pokedexs, the explain about the Mew thing. I'd say this may take a while."

"Ok." Both Pokemon climbed to the floor, and Mia pulsed out a pink aura, teleporting them all once again.

* * *

 **Chapter 18.**

* * *

Crimson and Bolt shook their heads.

' _ **That still feels a little weird.'**_

"Yeah, it will." Ash agreed. "Took about a month for me to get used to it. I'm still not used to teleporting myself."

"Yeah, practising teleportation is a must." Mia agreed. "It can be really useful to use in battle to get around behind an opponent to surprise them, so being disorientated by teleporting is pretty useless, and a death sentence if the conditions are bad."

"Let's not talk about that right now." Ash winced. "Let's get all these guys set up and then we'll go practise my teleporting."

"Right." Mia agreed readily. "Team, come out!"

"You guys too!"

' _ **Ready to go!'**_ The got into a fighting stance, before relaxing, confused.

"Calm down guys, this is training time."

' _ **Right. How'd we get here?'**_ Weedle asked. ' _ **Did we get out of the forest that fast?'**_

' _ **No.'**_ Pidgeotto replied. ' _ **We joined a little while ago, and we were really deep in the forest then.'**_

"You're right about that. We're still in the forest in the real world. This is our pocket dimension/training ground/storage box." Ash smiled. "Mia made it."

' _ **Wait, what?'**_ Caterpie blinked.

"Yeah, but before we go on to all that, let's get the Pokedex and stuff done." Mia said. She took out hers and pointed it at each of her Pokemon in turn.

"Weedle, the Hairy Pokemon. Its poison stinger is very powerful. Its bright-coloured body is intended to warn off enemies. This Weedle is male and has the ability Shield Dust. This Pokemon knows the moves Poison Sting and String Shot."

"Pidgeotto, the Bird Pokemon and the evolved form of Pidgey. Pidgeotto claims a large area as its own territory. This Pokemon flies around, patrolling its living space. If its territory is violated, it shows no mercy in thoroughly punishing the foe with its sharp claws. This Pidgeotto is male and has the ability Keen Eye. This Pokemon knows the moves Tackle, Gust, Sand Attack and Quick Attack. It also has the egg move Uproar, though this has not been unlocked yet."

"Charmander, the Lizard Pokemon. The flame that burns at the tip of its tail is an indication of its emotions. The flame wavers when Charmander is enjoying itself. If the Pokemon becomes enraged, the flame burns fiercely. This Charmander is female and has the ability Blaze. This Pokemon knows the moves Scratch, Growl, Ember, Smokescreen and Metal Claw. It also has the egg moves Dragon Pulse and Crunch, which have not been unlocked yet." The assembled teams looked over at her starter, impressed.

' _ **It's not that good, but I'll work on it.'**_ She said, embarrassed

"Crimson, that's great! I can't believe we didn't bother to scan you before."

' _ **That's probably because it's literally your job to know the movesets of every single Pokemon.'**_ Crimson suggested.

"That could be it. I should write a book." She chuckled.

"Moving on!" Ash said, scanning his own team.

"Caterpie, the Worm Pokemon. Caterpie has a voracious appetite. It can devour leave bigger than its body right before your eyes. From its antenna, this Pokemon releases a terrifically strong odor. This Caterpie is male with the ability Shield Dust. This Pokemon knows the moves Tackle and String Shot."

"Scyther, the Mantis Pokemon. It slashes through grass with its sharp scythes, moving too fast for the human eye to track. This Scyther is female with the ability Technician. This Pokemon knows the moves Quick Attack, Leer, Focus Energy and Pursuit. It also has the egg move Silver Wind, though this has not been unlocked."

"Pikachu, the Mouse Pokemon and the evolved form of Pichu. It has small electric sacs on both its cheeks. If threatened, it looses electric charges from the sacs. This Pikachu is male with the ability Lightningrod. This Pokemon knows the moves Thundershock, Growl, Tail Whip, Play Nice, Quick Attack and Iron Tail. It also has the egg moves Volt Tackle and Disarming Voice, which have not been unlocked yet."

' _ **Well would you look at that.'**_ Pidgeotto rolled his eyes. ' _ **Both the starters are super powerful.'**_

"Pidgeotto, quit it. You'll all be equal eventually." Mia scolded.

"And anyway, you'll likely pick up most the egg moves that it's possible for you to get anyway." Ash grinned.

"Anyway, next order of business is nicknames. I'm planning to give you all names so that you don't get lost, and if we battle the same Pokemon it doesn't get confusing."

' _ **Sounds good. What've you got?'**_ Weedle asked.

"Right. Weedle, I thought of Dart, and Pidgeotto, I came up with Arch."

' _ **I'm game.'**_ Dart the Weedle said.

' _ **Arch sounds a little weird, but I'm good with mine too.'**_ He nodded.

"And on my end, Caterpie I had Flutter, and Scyther, Sarie."

' _ **I like it.'**_ Flutter 'smiled'.

' _ **So do I.'**_ Sarie nodded to Ash.

"I'm glad." He smiled back.

"Onto the next item on the agenda, blowing your minds." Mia giggled. "Please turn away from the resulting explosion."

"Ok 'Mia', calm down." Ash rolled his eyes.

"Fine. And… swap!" Both starting glowing white, with a little bubble array covering Ash and hiding him from sight. When both appeared as a Mew and shiny Mew, Mew pouted.

' _ **I still don't get why you get a cool swapping sequence, and mines just like 'Hey, I glow and now I'm a different creature!' Like, it's so**_ **boring** _ **!'**_

' _ **I'm sure you can replicate it.'**_ He grinned at the other four members of the teams. Crimson and Bolt had heeded the warning and walked over to the training posts that were set up.

' _ **What.'**_ Flutter blanked.

' _ **I was rude to**_ **Mew** _ **?!'**_ Dart yelped. ' _ **No wonder Crimson went off at me like that.'**_

' _ **I guess that explains how you were able to heal us so quickly.'**_ Arch deadpanned.

' _ **And where we are right now.'**_ Sarie continued.

' _ **Yeah, this is a pocket world where we hold what Mom calls 'Mew Games'. We've repurposed it for training, and that house on the hill is storage.'**_

' _ **Yep!'**_ Mew said happily. ' _ **So, whenever we do training, we'll do it here! And plus, time doesn't move outside until we leave, so we can use it as much as we want!'**_

' _ **We'll have to be careful though.'**_ Ash warned them. ' _ **We don't want people getting suspicious about you getting too powerful too fast after all.'**_

' _ **Err… Miss Mew?'**_ Sarie asked timidly.

' _ **No need for formalities, but what's wrong?'**_

' _ **How come you have Master Ash?'**_

' _ **Actually, we haven't told Bolt and Crimson the story yet either.'**_ Ash realised. ' _ **We should do that after. Also, same for me please. No formalities needed, and in the real world Mew is referred to as Mia to avoid any problems.'**_

' _ **Ok.'**_

' _ **What will we be doing as training, then?'**_ Arch interrupted.

' _ **Rock party.'**_ Mew answered. She raised her voice. ' _ **Bolt, Crimson, come over here!'**_

' _ **Ok!'**_ Both of them ran over.

' _ **Right, for the brief. Bolt and Crimson will be working together, on a slightly higher tier than the others, then Flutter and Dart in a team and Arch and Sarie on the other.'**_ Mew instructed.

' _ **How this works is you're trapped in a dome with your partner. I'm sending in hordes of Rock type Pokemon. Just defeat them all.'**_ Ash took over, then passed it back to Mew.

' _ **For the bugs, five rounds 'cause you're the weakest, no offense-'**_

' _ **None taken.'**_

' _ **The flyers have ten because they can fly and are more powerful, and the starters have fifteen since they've done this before.'**_

' _ **Meanwhile, I'm going to try and teleport without getting dizzy.'**_ Ash told them.

' _ **And I don't know yet, probably help Ash out.'**_ Mew shrugged, then clicked her fingers. The Pokemon floated in their groups. ' _ **Now,'**_ She grinned, and each team was placed in a separate dome. ' _ **Let the training begin!'**_

* * *

 **AN: And you won't see it!**

 **T: Awwww.**

 **K: Hey, let's be reasonable here. If we showed every single training day, we'd never get anything done.**

 **T: Not like you do anyway.**

 **P: Be quiet! They have to keep these chapter manageable so people don't need to put aside hours to get to read them!**

 **K: Thanks Pix. Now, an alert. Shadow's putting a pole on her page later today/tomorrow.**

 **SV: The topics for which Pokemon we should use for Damien when the episode rolls around. Obviously, that's quite a ways away, but I'd like to get your opinions. As you may or may not know, these tend to be written quite far in advance, though the AN's are usually same day or the day before.**

 **K: So, this pole goes up now in order to let us write in advance and still have a conclusive answer when it comes to writing.**

 **P: Something else is that the training will be shown if it's either a) important to the plot, or b) a special minigame.**

 **SV: Again, this means we don't have to make up too many games.**

 **P: Also, that new story got posted on this account, and it's a triple upload as it's Shadow's birthday!**

 **T: No age given, of course. But yeah, the triple upload is to celebrate that!**

 **K: Ok girls, I believe that's all we need to talk about, so see you all next time!**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Hello again all!**

 **K: What's up?**

 **P: A fair few things, I think.**

 **T: Let's see. *Leafing through a notepad.* Yeah, a few things is about right.**

 **SV: Let's get this started! We don't own Pokemon.**

* * *

 **Chapter 19.**

* * *

' _ **Right, I think I've got that down.'**_ Ash said, floating around.

' _ **Yeah.'**_ Mew agreed. ' _ **Quick teleportation is pretty odd, but once you get it right it can be really helpful for fighting.'**_ Ash nodded.

' _ **Thanks for helping me to learn this stuff. It's surprisingly hard, actually.'**_

' _ **Yeah. It's pretty odd to get used to new powers.'**_ Mew smiled. ' _ **I had tons of trouble at first, and since I was the only one of my kind at that point, it was more awkward than this.'**_

' _ **That's… actually pretty surprising.'**_ Ash blinked. ' _ **I always think that you guys just appeared with the complete knowledge of what you can do.'**_

' _ **Well, we all had some grasp of what our abilities were. The main thing was Transform.'**_ Mew demonstrated this by changing to a Pidgeot, then Swellow, then a Dragonite, before going back to her normal shape. ' _ **I was actually terrified of using Transform for a good few hundred years, between us. I was scared of making some kind of mistake and screwing something up. I got over it eventually, and slowly learned to use the other forms.'**_

' _ **Huh.'**_ Ash shrugged. ' _ **I guess that makes sense. Shall we head back?'**_ Mew closed her eyes, checking around the dimension.

' _ **Well, everyone else finished the little bits extra we set up, and I think we're done too. What's the time out there?'**_ Ash pulled at the air, and a small tear appeared.

' _ **Looks like about an hour's passed.'**_

' _ **Right, let's go gather them all up and do a small bit of specialised training for the TM moves they can get.'**_

' _ **That feels kinda cheap, but whatever.'**_ He shrugged. ' _ **I'll see you there.'**_ Taking advantage of the teleport practise they had been doing, he warped back to the domes where their Pokemon teams still sat. He waved a paw and the domes disappeared. ' _ **Hey guys, come group up!'**_ Mew fluttered in behind him, and waved as well. A small stadium floor appeared, and the teams met up there.

' _ **Hello Mew.'**_ Sarie bowed slightly. ' _ **And to you too, Mew child.'**_

' _ **Please, no formalities. I believe I mentioned this earlier, but the formalities are a pain.'**_

' _ **Ok. What is it we need?'**_

' _ **Well, the last time we were here, we did move tutoring after that.'**_ Crimson informed them. ' _ **I assume that's what this is now?'**_

' _ **Correct.'**_ Mew nodded. ' _ **Now, the plan is as follows. Bolt and Crimson, you two need to keep practising Iron Tail and Metal Claw. I'll summon up something for you to practise on in a minute. Flutter and Dart, you don't learn any TM moves until you evolve to your last forms, but there's a couple of moves you can learn now; Electroweb and Bug Bite.'**_ The two small bugs looked down despondently. ' _ **Don't worry, I think you're both close to evolution. Either that, or this world is messed up slightly and stopping you from evolving, but we'll find out when we leave.'**_

' _ **Well, that's ok then.'**_ Dart said.

' _ **Anyway, continuing on.'**_ She chuckled quietly. ' _ **Arch and Sarie, both of you are Flying types, so we can do Steel Wing. Sarie can learn Bug Bite with the other two, while Arch does Uproar.'**_

' _ **Sounds good to me.'**_ Arch nodded.

' _ **Me as well.'**_ Sarie smiled nervously.

' _ **Right, glad that's sorted.'**_ Mew waved again, causing two Regirock to appear. All of the Pokemon flinched back. ' _ **Crimson, Bolt, you'll practise with the Regirock. Low power mode is up, so they can't hurt all that much. They're about as powerful as a Geodude.'**_

' _ **Right, ok.'**_ Crimson nodded. ' _ **Can you set us up a battleground?'**_

' _ **Naturally.'**_ Another wave, and the small group had been moved to a further edge of the island, near the mountains. Mew's voice floated in telepathically. ' _You'll be fighting separately, obviously, since it's a single battle, but have fun.'_ They split off into two sets and started. From back at the main section, small blasts could be heard.

' _ **Right, that's sorted.'**_ Ash stated. ' _ **How'll we split this?'**_

' _ **If you don't mind, I'd rather you worked with the bugs. Start with Electroweb, and we'll start with Steel Wing.'**_ Mew said.

' _ **Fine with me. Come on, we'll move out of the way.'**_ Ash picked up the two bugs and moved them away. ' _What Pokemon should I use?'_ He asked Mew privately.

' _Go for Galvantula.'_ She replied. ' _They're Electric/Bug types from Unova that naturally know the move.'_

' _Gotcha.'_ He sent back. ' _What about you?'_

' _Skarmory.'_

' _The Steel/Flying type from Johto?'_

' _Yep, that's the one. Good memory.'_

' _ **Right, what do we do?'**_ Dart asked. Ash placed them down and transformed carefully.

' _ **Right. First of all, you need to get the feel for electrical energy to be able to make the Electroweb yourself.'**_ He held out an arm and made a small Electroball there. ' _ **Here, feel this, but be careful.'**_ As Dart moved forward, a rock flew overhead.

' _ **Sorry!'**_ Bolt's voice echoed over.

' _ **Not a problem, just be more careful!'**_ Ash called back. ' _ **Anyway, back to getting Electroweb down.'**_

* * *

 **Chapter 20.**

* * *

' _ **Right.'**_ Ash nodded. ' _ **Looks like we're all done.'**_ Mew floated over next to him and nodded.

' _ **I'd say so too. Quick check first?'**_ Each Pokemon nodded, and fired off a Steel Wing, Electroweb and Bug Bite in quick succession.

' _ **Yep, all done.'**_ Ash smiled. ' _ **Can you bring the other two over Mom?'**_

' _ **Sure thing.'**_ She flashed pink and popped up over by the small starters, before dismissing both of the Regirock and bringing them back over to the main group.

' _ **Had fun, you two?'**_ Ash asked.

' _ **Nope.'**_ They chorused, sitting down and sighing.

' _ **I mean, I'm sure it'll be helpful…'**_ sighed Bolt.

' _ **But I do not want to do that again any time soon.'**_ Crimson continued.

' _ **Twenty medium to long rounds of a Rock party next time?'**_ Ash suggested.

' _ **Sure, I'm fine with that. Crimson?'**_ Bolt looked at his friend, who just nodded.

' _ **Pft, it can't have been**_ **that** _ **bad.'**_ Arch scoffed. ' _ **You two are just weaklings with no resistance.'**_

' _ **Oh really now?'**_ Mew said, glaring at him.

' _ **Of course!'**_ He continued in a superior tone, not seeing Mew's look. ' _ **I could take one no problem, and I'm at a type disadvantage. I'm much more powerful than those to, after all.'**_ Both Bolt and Crimson were fuming… Literally, in Crimson's case, while Bolt was more sparking than fuming. In fact, Bolt looked like he was ready to deliver a Flare Shock straight to his face.

' _Calm down both of you.'_ Ash said telepathically. ' _Mom's got this. She'll probably also have some popcorn ready.'_

 _Why?_ Bolt asked mentally, Ash picking it up.

' _You'll see.'_

' _ **Right then.'**_ She growled. ' _ **Here you go then. One Regirock, all good for you to fight,**_ **right now** _ **!'**_ Her ending shout made the bird jump, and he dropped the superiority immediately.

' _ **But… right now?'**_ He winced, then covered it. ' _ **I… I mean, sure thing! Let's go!'**_

' _ **Alright then.'**_ Mew waved her paw. ' _ **Ash, time check.'**_ He once again pulled at the air and looked out of the window.

' _ **Been 'bout half an hour since we last checked.'**_

' _ **Right. We can do…'**_ She trailed off, running through calculations in her head. ' _ **Right. We can manage it now.'**_ She lifted up all of the other Pokemon, and beckoned Ash to stand next to her. ' _ **Let's get everything set up.'**_ A few flicks of her tail cleared out a big area, around the size of a standard gym arena. A platform appeared off to the side, large enough to hold the entirety of the group. Walls rose from the ground, enclosing the arena and making the shape of the actual gym. The roof was made of a crystalline material which let them see through. Mew then deposited the three bugs and the starters on the platform and teleported Arch down into the gym arena.

' _Right!'_ She broadcast, for the sake of Arch. ' _We have half an hour of real time before we need to leave, so we can pass it off as Arch finding us a place far away, half an hour going, and hour training, and a half hour back. So, Ash, keep an eye on the outside time, and I'll call it off when the half hour hits.'_ She waved again, and another Regirock was brought in. ' _This is an unofficial training match for Arch against Regirock. This battle is on a time limit of half an hour real world time, and will end in a draw should that time limit be met. The battle will also end once one of the competitors faints, or should Arch surrender the match before the time limit is reached. I will referee, and Ash will keep track of time.'_

' _ **Ash?'**_ Bolt whispered.

' _ **Yeah?'**_

' _ **Why's Mew suddenly gone insane?'**_

' _ **She's done this a few times before.**_ **m** **ew games** _ **aren't common for it, but she's done this craziness before. Normally when someone insults or hurts me.'**_

' _ **Right. That's good to know.'**_

' _ **She's used Mew Games as a punishment for me before, but they aren't all that bad. I'm guessing this is the same sort of thing.'**_

' _ **Right. What's the difference?'**_

' _ **Well, Mew Games are just what they say they are. They're mini games made by Mew. They aren't meant to harm anyone, and got created because she wanted a way to play with Pokemon without wasting real time.**_ **m** **ew games** _ **, on the other hand, are the punishment version. They're the not so nice ones. She still doesn't want anyone hurt, they just teach a lesson to the person or Pokemon on the receiving end.'**_

' _Good description.'_ She said to them, cutting Arch out for a moment. ' _Right, are the challengers prepared?'_ She continued, back to the broadcast.

' _ **Ready and waiting!'**_ Arch called. Regirock just beeped a few times.

' _Ok then.'_ She nodded to Ash, who got ready to start timing. ' _Begin!'_

* * *

 ***10 real time minutes, around 16 hits for both sides and several near misses later.***

* * *

' _ **Ok, nope, I give up!'**_ Arch cried out, flying close to the ceiling and rolling to dodge past a Rock Blast.

' _Really?'_ Mew asked. ' _Where'd that confidence go?'_

' _ **I think the rock shot it.'**_ Arch cawed, dodging around more blasts. ' _ **Now call it off!'**_

' _Time check?'_ She asked Ash privately.

' _About ten minutes.'_ He answered.

' _Right.'_ She continued to broadcast. ' _Arch has surrendered the battle, so this fight is over!'_ The Regirock stopped firing, and the gym started to deconstruct. Mew floated down to the Regirock, who beeped a few times before vanishing. Arch alighted next to the rest of the group, and preened when Mew returned.

' _ **Ok, so in the end I had to give up, but I'm sure I lasted as long as these two. Right, Ash?'**_

' _ **Hang on a minute.'**_ Ash waved, manipulating the area to bring up a whiteboard and pen. ' _ **Right, an hour on the dome practise, and a half hour on the special move training for you four…'**_

' _ **Yes? What's the point of that? I know that both of us had the same amount of time for the training. Now what's the time?'**_

' _ **Hold on!'**_ He rolled his eyes and motioned with his tail, checking the time outside once more. ' _ **Right. I've got the exact time.'**_

' _ **And?'**_ He pressed.

' _ **10 minutes, 27 seconds exactly.'**_ Ash replied, motioning again to remove the board and small tear in the world.

' _ **What!?'**_ He shouted. ' _ **But… but**_ **how** _ **could they last longer than me?'**_

' _ **How doesn't matter.'**_ Mew stepped in smartly. ' _ **What is important, is what you've learned. You do not have bragging rights if you cannot back them up sufficiently, and you do not belittle your teammates. And remember,'**_ She floated forwards slightly. ' _ **You are not the most powerful Pokemon here. Not by a long shot. So, I suggest you remember your place, and do not insult anyone.'**_

' _ **Yesmam.'**_ He stuttered.

' _ **Good.'**_ She suddenly returned to her normal, bouncy state. ' _ **Let's get ready to go, then.'**_ She blasted out an area range Heal Pulse, healing everyone up. Both Mew landed, and transformed back to the human shapes.

"Ok then." Ash said, stretching. "We'll head back to camp, get food, and get some rest. Good plan?"

"Yep." Mia replied. "Stupid as it is, we'll have to return you all before we get to camp, then let you out once we get there."

' _ **Why not now?'**_ Flutter asked.

"Well, we don't know how come you haven't evolved yet. Like I said earlier, it might be you're both further off than we thought, or the dimension stops it for whatever reason." Mia explained. "So, we don't want it to be the latter and have a spontaneous double evolution in the camp."

' _ **Ok, that makes sense.'**_ He nodded.

"Thanks. Ready to go?" Everyone nodded, and they flashed pink before leaving.

* * *

As soon as they landed, both bugs started to glow white.

"Well, looks like it is the second one." Ash stated.

"Yeah. I'll look into fixing that." Mia nodded.

' _ **Well, that would be appreciated.'**_ Flutter said, as the glow faded.

' _ **Yeah.'**_ Dart hopped a little. ' _ **Guess I've gotta get used to not moving much now.'**_

"Unfortunately, yeah." Ash patted them both. "Don't worry, you get to evolve again quite soon."

' _ **I'll hold you to that.'**_

"Ok." Mia held out two Pokeballs. "We'll be letting you out again soon, but for now, return."

"You two as well." All four team members disappeared, and the starters walked over.

"Right. Let's get back to base and start cooking." Mia smiled at Crimson and picked her up as they started walking.

' _ **I hope so!'**_ Bolt grinned for his place on Ash's shoulder. ' _ **Your cooking is awesome!'**_

"Thanks. I had a lot of time to practise."

"Practise at what?" Misty asked, as they walked into earshot.

"Cooking. I did quite a lot of it back home." She replied.

"Ok. Have a good session?"

"Yeah. Arch went and showed up a good clearing far enough away to not disturb anything, and we spent an hour there."

"Arch?"

"Oh yeah, we nicknamed the rest of the team." Ash explained. "Arch is her Pidgeotto, and Dart is Kakuna. I have Flutter, the Metapod, and Sarie is my Scyther."

"Ok. That's cool." Misty smiled. "Wonder if I should name my team…"

"It sort of depends on the Pokemon's preference. Our team liked the names, so we used them. If you ask your team, maybe they'll want a nickname." Ash told her.

"That makes sense." Misty nodded. "Right, let's get everything set up."

* * *

 **AN: There, happy now? I made a training chapter.**

 **T: Well, it'll do.**

 **K: Why did you do that with Pidgeotto?**

 **SV: Just because. I feel like the bird would be kinda cocky at first, then cool it later. He'll still be a little bit cocky, but it'll fade in time.**

 **P: Sure. Quickly, the poll we put up.**

 **SV: Right. The poll's up now, as you may have noticed. One of the choices is to make the Pokemon Damien leaves an Alolan Pokemon of some type. The poll will be ended when the chapter about Mount Moon is posted, maybe the next day.**

 **K: Should the winning choice be for an Alolan Pokemon, we will put up another poll with a selection of Pokemon it may be. We aren't sure what the choices will be, but we'll think of that if the option wins. Other than that, nothing more to add, see you next time!**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Hello again all!**

 **K: What's up?**

 **P: Clouds. The sky.**

 **T: Probably a Rayquaza.**

 **SV: Ok team, no need to be sarcastic. Let's rock on with this chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter 21.**

* * *

 ***Timeskip: 3 days.***

* * *

"Are we actually going to get out of this forest anytime soon?" Misty whined.

" _Yes,_ Misty, we are." Ash replied.

' _By my own name, this is stupid.'_ Mia telepathed.

' _I know.'_ Ash said back. ' _How long have we been here, like four days? Five?'_

' _Five, I think.'_

' _Ok, that's a fairly long time to be lost in a forest, but still. That is getting annoying.'_

"Mia, you have a Flying type, why haven't you just got him to get us out?"

"Well first, he's a Pidgeotto. He couldn't carry the three of us. And second, the journey's more important than the destination."

"Not when we're _lost in a forest full of Bugs_!"

' _Right, I give up. Call out Arch, we're skipping anything that isn't important and taking a shortcut.'_ Ash said to Mia, sighing quietly.

' _Right.'_ Mia took the Pokeball off her belt. "If you're going to be so insistent, fine. Arch, come out."

' _ **What do you need Mia?'**_ He asked as he materialised properly. Over the last three days he had really changed, and for the better. The arrogance he had shown during that first training session seemed to have evaporated entirely, and been completely replaced by a desire to learn. Conversations with Sarie had revealed that he had sometimes been like that, mostly after things that they considered huge accomplishments, like when he had fended off a small segment of a nearby Beedrill swarm that were particularly aggressive. She'd mentioned that he would tend to be boastful for a few days, sometimes belittling her for not being as good, but he would go back to normal after the fact. Mia had theorised that the knowledge that his trainer was actually Mew was the thing that had set him off, and Sarie agreed. Luckily, for everyone involved, it seemed the small battle against the Regirock and being told off by Mew so thoroughly seemed to have snapped him out of it completely. But whatever the case, he was fine now, and hopefully would stay that way.

"Misty's getting irritated by being in the forest, so I want you to help us find the way out. Is that ok?"

' _ **Sure thing boss.'**_ He said, saluting and flying off to circle above us, before shooting off towards the north.

"So, now we just wait until he gets back." Mia went over to Crimson, who was sitting on the floor waiting for the trainers to finish their little argument.

' _ **Jeez, Misty's being annoying.'**_ Crimson yawned, settling back into her place in Mia's arms.

' _That she is dear, that she is.'_

' _ **Hey, do you think we could learn to do psychic stuff like telepathy?'**_ Bolt asked suddenly.

' _ **Maybe we could. It sounds like a useful idea.'**_ Crimson replied, looking up at Mia slightly.

' _Should be possible.'_ Mia hummed. ' _I'm not sure, but we can try next time we go to a training world.'_ Surprisingly to all involved in conversation, a loud shriek echoed through the clearing.

' _ **Arceus dammit Misty…'**_ Crimson sighed, sitting up and looking over.

' _ **That wasn't Misty.'**_ Bolt said, stating something that was fairly obvious as soon as she looked. ' _ **Sounded more like a bird…'**_

"What was that?" Misty asked.

"Not sure." Ash moved away from the tree he was leaning against and looked around. "Was that Arch?"

"It did sound like a bird." Mia agreed, repeating what Crimson had noted. All three of the trainers looked at the sky in the direction that the Pidgeotto had flown in. Said Pokemon came rocketing back to the clearing a minute later, looking slightly beaten up.

' _ **There's a kid being attacked by some people over there!'**_ He called back loudly. ' _ **I was going to help, but I thought it would be good to warn you. Come on!'**_ He jetted back towards the other side of the forest, pausing for a moment to look back before continuing.

' _Right. Guys you understood that, we didn't.'_ Mia told the Pokemon, who nodded minutely.

"What just happened?" Misty asked plaintively. Bolt rolled her eyes at her, and went to pull on her arm, Crimson doing the same to the Pokemon in disguise.

' _ **Come on, this way!'**_ He called, running up to the trees and pointing once he got her attention.

"I don't know, but I guess something bad, since this guys seem pretty panicked." Mia fake guessed. "Is that right, Crimson?" She looked down at the Pokemon.

' _ **Yeah, that's right. Come on!'**_ She nodded and ran over to Bolt, pointing as well.

' _ **This is really damn stupid.'**_ Bolt said, jumping down from the branch and running into the bushes.

"I guess we should follow them." Ash hid a smile at Bolt's comment.

"Sure." Misty still looked bewildered, but all three trainers ran after the Pokemon.

' _ **It's still fun though, isn't it?'**_ Crimson grinned at her fellow starter. ' _ **Pretending that they don't understand, and having to lead them to the right answer without having to**_ **show** _ **that they understand? This is going to be one hell of a journey!'**_

' _ **Yeah, I guess.'**_ Bolt allowed. ' _ **Though I hope the charade isn't kept up the entire time. It'd be nice to talk openly with them.'**_

' _You got that right.'_ Mia telepathed to them. ' _We'll hope for the best, eh?'_

' _ **Agreed.'**_ Crimson stopped for a moment, and she and Bolt listened around. He frowned, then ran left, ears twitching.

' _ **This way, I think.'**_ He told them. ' _ **Follow me!'**_

' _You guys have no idea where you're going, do you?'_ Ash laughed.

' _ **Not a clue!'**_ Crimson called back. ' _ **I'm following him!'**_ She pointed forwards to Bolt, who clambered up a tree and looked around.

' _ **And I'm following the sounds!'**_ He called back, bouncing higher into the tree. He went out of sight for a few minutes, leaving the trainers and Crimson to stand at the bottom.

' _This must look so weird to Misty.'_ Mia observed. ' _I mean, none of us are saying anything, and these two are sometimes just yelling randomly.'_

' _ **Found them!'**_ Bolt yelled suddenly, accidentally confirming her statement. ' _ **Follow me!'**_ He ran into the bushes again, and Crimson followed quickly, being careful not to touch anything with her tail flame. The three of them blinked, then shrugged and followed them as well.

* * *

On the other side of the bushes they ran through, they met a very odd sight. A boy in armour was looking despondently at a balloon, which was floating just above the ground and seemed to be holding some cages. Mia moved slightly to see what was in the cages, and her blood boiled to see the Bug Pokemon of the forest trapped and looking petrified. Crimson stood next to her, ready to take an order to attack as soon as it was given. She glanced up at her trainer and grinned, and Mia smiled back before closing her eyes to look around.

' _Arch's just in the trees behind us. He seems to have taken a bit of a beating. Other than the kid and the Bug types, three others.'_ She reported to the other three. ' _Looks to be the same trio from the Pokemon Center.'_

' _Looks like a case of Flare Shock, eh?'_ Ash thought back.

' _Maybe, but if they take off we'll have a problem-'_

"Well, look who we have here." A voice called from the other side.

"It looks to me like a set of twerps here to play hero." A second continued. Mia carefully moved back as they spoke, positioning herself next to a tree.

' _Arch, stay still.'_ She instructed. Slowly, trying not to arouse suspicion, she pulled up a large amount of power and blasted it out behind her in the form of a Heal Pulse. Normally, a Heal Pulse would barely drain her, unless she was healing a huge group, since she was able to focus the power onto the one or two individuals, which would normally heal them fully. This time, she was using the Heal Pulse on a wide area, and only one of the things was her target. The rest of the power just dispersed away into the air and a little bit of the forest around her. Even with the massive reserves of power she had gained of the millennium, the same reserves she'd once used to form a tree of crystals and make it self sustaining unless disturbed, it still left her a little weary from the power spike. Arch shuffled behind her.

' _ **All good. Thanks.'**_ He whispered.

"No problem." She whispered back. "You might need to get beaten up a bit more, though. Can you handle that?"

' _ **Of course. I'd appreciate some backup, however.'**_

"Naturally. We'll do our best." She smiled, and the bird nodded back before taking wing to hide further back in the trees. She stepped forward again, standing behind Ash and to the left of Misty. The two Pokemon already out stood before them, even if both of their trainers could likely handle the fight better than they could. After all, they were hiding as humans for a reason, and they'd keep up the charade as long as they could. The trio in the balloon finished talking, and Bolt sighed.

' _ **My idiot radar is tingling.'**_

' _ **I wonder why.'**_ Crimson said sarcastically.

"Hey! You twerps be quiet!" Meowth yelled angrily.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't mess with others." Misty replied.

"Well, we've got all the Bug types in the forest for the Boss, and you can't stop us!" Jessie called, swinging herself into the balloon. "Meowth, come on up here!"

"Ok!" He ran over with lumbering strides.

' _That 'mon is ridiculous.'_ Mia telepathed.

' _Are we letting them up then?'_

' _Not unless I want them to.'_ Came the reply, accompanied by a vicious grin. "Crimson, blast them." She said quietly.

' _ **Sure. Lightly roasted, or fried?'**_

"Careful. There's Bugs in there, remember."

' _ **Light roast it is, then.'**_ She aimed upwards, towards the balloon, and blew a thin stream of fire. It brushed over, then exploded, dropping the remains straight on top of the three in the balloon.

"Ouch!"

"Meowth, get off!"

"How about you two move!"

"Bolt, get moving." Ash nodded at his starter, who grinned back before running forwards into the balloon. A few crashing noises and the sound of lightning followed, and the small Pokemon ran back out again, followed by a ton of forest Pokemon, who looked relieved to be set free from Team Rocket.

' _ **Good job bud.'**_ Crimson smiled at the other starter Pokemon.

' _ **Thanks.'**_ He smirked back. ' _ **Should we blast them?'**_

"Flare Shock it is." Mia replied, with Ash nodding behind her.

' _ **Right. Stand back.'**_ Crimson inhaled massively, and Bolt started sparking wildly. A few seconds later, a huge mix of fire and lightning crashed through the clearing. A small explosion rocked the whole balloon, and sent the whole thing flying sky high.

"Look's like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" A small glimmer of light shone for a moment, and Mia grinned.

"Good shot you too." She took a Pokeball off her belt and handed it to Crimson. "Go grab Arch for me, can you?"

' _ **Sure thing.'**_ She grinned back. ' _ **I'll be back in a bit.'**_ She bounced off into the forest, her small tail flame kept close to her stomach to avoid burning the area around her down.

"Thanks." Both new trainers turned, since Misty was too busy hiding behind a tree to do so, to the other boy who'd been in the clearing. He was standing next to a Pinsir and a Metapod, who looked happy to see him. "I was worried I'd lost my friends forever."

"It's no problem." Ash smiled back. Mia gave an evaluative look over the two Pokemon standing next to him.

"These two seem pretty powerful. How come you got caught by those idiots?"

' _ **Good question.'**_ Bolt said, appearing over Ash's shoulder.

"I wasn't with them at the time. These two were talking, about what I don't know, obviously, but I went to get something while they stayed here. When I came back, I couldn't do a thing."

' _ **Hey, it's not a problem.'**_ The Pinsir told him.

' _ **Yeah, you couldn't have known.'**_ The Metapod added, nudging him in the leg. The Samurai reached down to pat him, and Mia grinned. Ash nudged her discreetly, then nodded towards the collection of Bug types.

' _Bolt, think you can talk to them?'_ Mia asked silently. He nodded, and jumped down to the floor again. He initiated a conversation with the Pokemon closest, which all the humans promptly ignored.

"Actually, it was a surprise to see that Pidgeotto suddenly fly in. I'm assuming he was one of yours?" He looked questioningly at the two.

"Yeah, he's mine." Mia nodded to him.

"I've gotta say, he's really a well trained Pokemon. The Ekans and Koffing those were using didn't look _too_ badly trained, but your Pokemon rammed through them like they were nothing."

"He was already pretty strong when we found him, but we've worked pretty well together. Once we got past the occasional bouts of arrogance he came with, that is."

"Huh, sounds like that was a challenge." The Samurai nodded. "Say, have any Bug types?"

"My cousin here has a Kakuna, and I've got a Metapod and Scyther." Ash replied.

"You have a Scyther?" He repeated, impressed. "Where'd you get that?"

"In here." Ash answered. "She was being attacked by a Beedrill swarm with our Pidgeotto. We got Bolt and Crimson to drive them off with Flare Shock."

"Is that the move you used on the balloon then?" Mia nodded. "Did you come up with that?" Mia shook her head.

"I saw it when I was on a trip in Kalos with my parents a while back." She explained. "A girl was battling with someone, using a shiny Dratini, and it used both Flamethrower and Thunderbolt at the same time. The girl called it Flare Shock, so I thought I could try it myself."

"Well, it's one heck of a move." Further conversation was interrupted as Crimson ran back over, handing Arch's Pokeball to Mia.

' _ **What took you so long?'**_ Bolt asked, mostly for the sake of their trainers.

' _ **Arch,'**_ She grinned. ' _ **Was being a little silly. Laughed about the good shot though. Said to tell you that the explosion looked great from where he was standing.'**_ She looked around at the expanse of Bug types that were dispelling back into the woods around them. ' _ **Think we're ready to go?'**_

' _ **Maybe. Once these two are done talking about Bug types.'**_ Bolt gestured over to the Mia, who was talking avidly to the bug catcher about the rarer bug Pokemon that were around in Kanto. Feeling their stares, Ash glanced back to them and rolled his eyes. Both Pokemon chuckled lightly, and were more than ready to get Mia to continue on when Misty beat them to the punch.

"Hey, if you don't mind, could you point us in the direction of Pewter City? We got a little lost in here."

' _ **More like you don't want to be near the Bug types here any more.'**_ Crimson muttered to Bolt.

' _ **Heh, yeah.'**_ He nodded towards the Pinsir and Metapod that had been among the Pokemon they'd freed. ' _ **She's still keeping her distance, look.'**_

"I'd be happy too!" The Samurai nodded to her. "Follow me, if you will." He looked to his Pinsir and Metapod. "Come back and rest for now. I'll bring you out again later." Both nodded as best they could, and disappeared into the balls.

' _ **I**_ **still** _ **don't get how you guys can go into those things.'**_ Bolt shivered.

' _ **They aren't**_ **that** _ **bad.'**_ She replied, walking over to Mia. ' _ **A little weird at first, but not bad once you get used to it.'**_

' _ **Yeah, I'll take your word for it.'**_ He muttered, taking his own place on Ash's shoulder. Said trainer chuckled lightly at the final statement.

"Right. Follow me, and I'll get you to your destination shortly." The bug catcher set off, the rest of the team trailing behind. "You're all actually a lot closer than you might think. It won't take long, maybe ten minutes."

' _Huh. This place is smaller than I remember it being.'_ Mia frowned for a second, then schooled her face back to neutral.

' _Well, depends on the last time you saw it.'_ Ash replied. ' _It might have been a long time, or maybe you got it confused with another forest.'_

' _Like what? Eterna?'_ Mia deadpanned. ' _It hasn't been that long.'_

' _Sure. Come on 'Mia', let's focus on getting out of here.'_

* * *

True to what he had said, they were out of the forest within ten minutes of starting the trip.

"Here." The Samurai said. "This path leads to Pewter City. I assume you are challenging the gym there, so good luck to you all."

"Thanks for guiding us." Mia smiled back. "Maybe we'll meet again." She lead the way out of the forest, Ash walking behind her and Misty still shivering slightly behind them both.

' _Pokemon Center, then extra training?'_ Ash asked her quietly. Mia hummed.

' _I don't think we need it. Maybe just with Flutter and Dart to get them to their last evolutions, but other than that I don't think so.'_

' _Sure thing.'_ Ash grinned. ' _Guess we can't have them getting too powerful too quickly, can we?'_

' _Of course not dear.'_ Mia caught his eye, and gave a fiery grin herself. ' _Now, let's get ready to beat this gym.'_

* * *

 **AN: Next time! 'Cause this update is likely a little late already.**

 **P: If it's going up on the day we think it is, of course.**

 **K: Sometimes life gets in the way, but we try our best to keep a schedule and have things go up on time.**

 **T: Anything to note?**

 **SV: Well, the poll's still up, of course. Going quite well, but I gotta say, ain't much love for Electrike.**

 **K: Along with that, we've pretty much decided that if the next few chapters take too long to get up, because of life and stuff, the poll might end earlier.**

 **P: We'll do our best to alert you all, either through an update here or on Twitter.**

 **T: Which, by the way, we've mentioned already, but feel we should mention again, since not everyone here follows the other fics here. ShadowVulpix, Shadow_Vulpix2, for tweets about when chapters go up, occasional random stuff, and shinies from the extra hunts she does sometimes, normally on weekends.**

 **SV: It's not always the most fun thing to see, but maybe you think that's cool, maybe you don't.**

 **P: Remember to get your own vote into the poll for what Pokemon we replace Damien's Charmander with!**

 **K: We'll see you all around!**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Hi everyone.**

 **K: Hi.**

 **SV: In case you're wondering where our energy went, there are two answers. The first is New Beginnings, since that's come to a close.**

 **K: The second is Trixie. Pixie was involved as well, but it was predominantly Trixie.**

 **SV: So instead of giving you all this super unenergetic commentary, let's rock.**

* * *

 **Chapter 22.**

* * *

 ***Later.***

* * *

"Alright, I think we're set." Ash said, standing in front of the two teams.

"I'd say so." Mia added. "Though Flutters and Dart don't seem to think so." She pointed over at the two.

"They're still working on trying to evolve." Ash grinned. "I think they want to help out with the gym."

' _Have you chosen yet?'_

' _Well, the plan was Sarie and Bolt, since Scyther is naturally better than Butterfree stat wise, but I might need to use Flutter anyway, given the amount of effort they're putting in.'_

' _I think I'll use Dart anyway, and obviously Crimson. I think Arch should sit this one out, since the gym's indoors so it'll be hard for him to fly.'_

' _Are you going to tell him?'_

' _Nope, don't want to ruin his motivation.'_

' _You are evil sometimes.'_

' _Been living with it for a few billion years, talk to the tail.'_

' _How flattering.'_ Mia snorted at Ash's comment.

"Think we should bring them back now?" She said instead.

"Probably." Ash glanced to his right. "I'd like to get some sleep before the battle."

"Alright then." Mia grinned. ' _Gather up folks! Time to get outta here!'_

' _ **Ok Mia!'**_ They called back. The as of yet small group gathered around around the two.

' _ **What's up?'**_ Bolt, as the impromptu co-captain of the group, asked.

"Well, we need to get going. It's getting kinda late, and we'll need to rest before tomorrow." Ash told them.

"Also, in case you hadn't noticed, the worldlet is still broken, so it'll likely be evolution time for you again when we leave." Mia continued, directed at Flutter and Dart.

' _ **Great!'**_ Dart hopped slightly. ' _ **Finally we'll be able to move again!'**_

"Yeah, we've been taking the training slow, so that you don't get too powerful too quickly." Mia grinned. "Now, we need to talk about the teams for tomorrow's battle."

' _ **Right.'**_ Crimson, the other co-captain, replied.

"Crimson, you're in. Dart, you'll be the other." She stated. "Arch, I chose not to use you since this is a Rock gym, and indoors, which would restrict your flying abilities, so you'd have problems."

' _ **Alright.'**_ He nodded. ' _ **I see your point. I wish you'd have told me beforehand, though.'**_

"Well, I didn't want to spoil your motivation to train." She replied.

"And for me, Bolt's in. The only issue is that both of you are four times weak to Rock, so I don't know who to pick." Ash added, talking to his team. "So, my question is do either of you not want to battle?"

' _ **If you don't mind, I'd like to sit this one out.'**_ Sarie said quietly. ' _ **I'm not all that good at fighting, so I'd rather stay out.'**_

' _ **Well, I'm good to fight.'**_ Flutter cheered. ' _ **I'll do my best to help you win.'**_

"Well, that was sorted rather easily." Ash smiled. "Now, let's get out of here, let you two evolve, and get some rest before tomorrow." Mia nodded, before teleporting them out and dismissing the worldlet in a single motion. Both of the smaller Bug types glowed in evolution, which soon faded to leave a Butterfree and Beedrill floating there.

' _ **Wooohooo!'**_ Dart yelled, flying in circles. ' _ **We can finally move again!'**_

' _ **It is good to be out of that shell.'**_ Flutter agreed, living up to his name as he fluttered over to Ash.

"I'm glad you're happy." Mia smiled.

"Yeah, and I hope you enjoy flying. It was awesome when I first started." Ash grinned at the memory.

' _ **Technically, you guys levitate, not fly.'**_ Arch shrugged. ' _ **It's close enough.'**_

"True. And hey, once I pick up how to use Transform, there will be flight trips for fun." Ash assured him.

' _ **Well, that's something I can certainly agree with.'**_ Arch nodded his approval. ' _ **Though I assume we may be acting as flyers for those in our team that can't fly?'**_

"Most likely." Mia nodded. "At least, until I can figure out a good way to none permanently transform other Pokemon in a way that won't disable itself after ten minutes."

' _ **But aren't you like, god?'**_ Sarie asked quietly. ' _ **Can't you do that anyway?'**_

"I could, once, but I rarely used it for millennia, so it's all sorta faded with the time." Mia shrugged. "I don't plan on testing it on you guys until I know I can reverse it completely. Thank me that humans aren't as finicky to deal with."

' _ **Really? How come?'**_ Bolt asked.

"And did you just use 'thank me' as an oath?" Ash added.

"Well, I can't exactly say 'thank Mew', can I?" She replied. "And for you, Bolt, it's because normal humans aren't as inherently powered as Pokemon, so I can transform them without having any existing stuff fight me. Like trying to change you would be harder than trying to change Misty, because you have a natural aura type from being a Pokemon that makes it hard to change you into another Pokemon. You to a human's slightly easier, since humans don't have the aura, so it's not a fight to make that aura type a different one."

' _ **That's… confusing.'**_ He admitted.

"Well, I'm simplifying a lot. But you don't need to worry about it, since I don't plan to go and transform you guys."

' _ **Well, that's good.'**_ Crimson decided firmly. ' _ **Now, let's head back, eh?'**_

"Sure. Everyone, return." Mia held up two Pokeballs, and Ash followed. "You want to go back as well Crimson?"

' _ **Sure, why not.'**_ She stretched and yawned. ' _ **Try not to do something stupid while I'm gone.'**_

"We won't." Mia giggled, returning her as well.

' _ **Well, no Pokeball for me.'**_ Bolt shook his head. ' _ **I'm staying up here, thanks.'**_

"Alright then." Ash patted him on the head. "Let's get back to the centre and drop them all off, then head to sleep?"

"Good plan. Let's hope for the best in that battle tomorrow, eh?"

* * *

 ***The next morning.***

* * *

Ash stretched as he woke up, and abruptly realised he'd transformed in his sleep.

 _Oops._ He floated off the bed and transformed back, being careful to stay quiet.

' _ **Hey Ash.'**_ Bolt yawned. ' _ **Good night?'**_

"Well, I accidentally swapped again."

' _ **Really? I didn't think you could do that.'**_ He sat up, blinking.

"Yeah, I can. I can stop it if I put extra power into it, but I forgot to last night."

' _ **Huh.'**_ Bolt thought for a second, then shrugged. ' _ **You should probably try not to do that anymore.'**_

"No, really?" Ash replied sarcastically. "I thought it'd be a good idea to let myself transform overnight and risk letting anyone learn about it."

' _ **Haha, very funny, Child of Mew.'**_ He shook his head, then grinned. ' _ **Gym battle today, yeah?'**_

"I thought I told you not to call me that." Ash said, feigning irritation. "And yeah, it is."

' _ **Good. Hopefully that practise will turn out useful.'**_

"Well, how many other trainers can say that to prepare for fighting a Rock type gym, they did practise battles against a Regirock?" He grinned. "You can head down and see if Mia's up, if you want. I'll join you both in a minute."

' _ **Sure.'**_ Bolt yawned as he ran out the door. He bounced down the steps, and nearly ran into Crimson coming the other way. ' _ **Oh, hi Crimson. What's up?'**_

' _ **I was coming to see if you guys were up yet.'**_

' _ **Ash'll be down in a minute. I assume Mia's up then?'**_

' _ **Naturally.'**_ The two walked down together. ' _ **She's used to waking up early, of course.'**_

' _ **I guess so. I mean, she's had ages to get used to it.'**_

' _ **I think it had something to do with her job too.'**_ Crimson guessed. ' _ **I mean, it doesn't seem like an easy task.'**_

' _It wasn't.'_ Both Pokemon jumped slightly as Mia's voice popped into their heads.

' _ **Huh? You heard?'**_ Bolt asked, looking around.

' _Yeah, I did. But no, it wasn't an easy job at first. After that original part, though, I had plenty of time.'_

' _ **I never really thought of that.'**_ Crimson said.

' _ **I guess that does make sense, though.'**_ Bolt replied.

' _I hope so.'_ Mia walked around the corner as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "Is Ash coming?"

' _ **He'll be here in a second.'**_ Bolt told her.

"Right now, you mean." Ash corrected, appearing at the top of the stairs.

' _ **I guess so.'**_ Bolt laughed.

"All ready for the fight?" He asked Mia.

"Should be. We've just got to wait for Misty to get down, then we'll head over there."

' _ **Why?'**_ Crimson asked, looking up.

"She wants to watch the battle." She said.

"So, beat this gym, then on to the next one?"

"Yep." Any further conversation was interrupted by the appearance of the Water type trainer.

"Hi guys." Misty waved.

"Hi Misty." Mia smiled back.

"I guess you're all ready for the gym battle then?"

"Yep." Ash replied, Bolt jumping up to his shoulder. "We picked the teams last night after the extra training segment."

"Neat. Who's up? I'm pretty sure most your teams are weak to Rock types, yeah?"

"Yeah, but oh well." Mia shrugged. "Anyway, I'm going with Crimson and Dart."

"Bolt and Flutter for me." Ash added, patting the Pikachu on the head.

"Well, this'll be fun." She said, heading for the door. "I hope you've got a plan."

* * *

 **Chapter 23.**

* * *

Ash and Mia walked into the gym, their two starters trailing behind. Misty followed, going straight for the sidelines.

' _By the way, you want to go first or second?'_ Ash asked. ' _We never really decided.'_

' _I'll go first, if you don't mind.'_ Mia answered.

' _Sure. Best of luck.'_ Ash walked nearer to the sidelines as well.

"Welcome!" The gym leader, Brock, said. "Here for the challenge, I assume?"

"Yes I am. It's me and my cousin." Mia replied. "I'm going first."

"Well, I think I've got a few spare teams I can use for you. Ready?"

"Sure I am!" Mia grinned, and gestured for Crimson to take the field.

"A Fire type? Heh, you can't hope to win with that!" Brock laughed. "Geodude, go!"

' _ **Let's rock!'**_ He announced.

' _ **Bad pun.'**_ Crimson rolled her eyes.

"Smokescreen!" Mia yelled, starting the battle.

"Geodude, take advantage of this with Rock Polish!"

' _ **Dang it.'**_ Crimson muttered. ' _ **Mia, why'd you do this? I can't see much either.'**_

"Don't panic Crimson, use Ember, wide circle!" The Charmander took a moment to parse the instructions, then made a wide ring of fire around her. A startled shout told her she'd hit something, and she focused the stream onto where she'd heard it.

"Geodude, Rollout!"

"He's moving again! Try and track him!"

' _ **He's moving? I didn't realise.'**_ She rolled her eyes, cutting off her attack and looking around blindly for a minute, searching for the Rock type. She heard something roll, and whirled her tail around to make an Ember behind her. Another shout told her she'd landed a hit, and she spun, using Scratch to hit him again.

"Defence Curl and Rollout!"

"Use Ember to blast him away, then Smokescreen again!"

' _ **I have no idea what this plan is!'**_ Geodude shouted, rolling away from the Ember attack.

' _ **Not surprised, I don't either. I think it's a genetic trait in my trainer, she just does weird things sometimes.'**_ Crimson replied, looking around. The Rock Pokemon had escaped into the smoke while she was refilling it, so now she had to rely on getting lucky.

"Crimson, left!" Trusting the disguised Pokemon, she blindly swung out left of her, and blinked when she caught Geodude with her claws, batting him away.

"How did you know where he was?" Brock asked, thrown.

"Guesswork!" Mia replied cheerfully, before shouting. "He's behind you, Ember!" She spun again, and managed to catch the Rock again. "Now, charge!" She lunged forwards, hitting Geodude with a barrage of Scratches.

' _ **Ouch.'**_ He said, before fainting. Both trainers waited a few seconds.

"I think he's out." Brock volunteered.

"So do I. Should I get rid of the smoke?" Mia asked.

"If you can, yeah." Crimson ran back to her trainer, as Arch was called out and used Gust to blow away the rest. "Geodude, return." Brock smiled at Mia. "Well, you've certainly impressed me with that Charmander of yours. Let's see how you handle this! Onix!"

' _ **Ready to go!'**_

"Crimson, take a rest. Dart, let's go!"

' _ **Right!'**_ The little bug flew forwards, a determined expression on his face.

"Ok." Brock blinked. "Was your plan to use only Pokemon that are weak to me?"

"Sort of. Dart, Focus Energy and Fury Attack!"

' _ **Heck yeah!'**_

"Curse then Rock Throw!"

"Watch out!"

' _ **Waaayyyy ahead of you there!'**_ He yelled back, dodging around the falling rocks and poking Onix with his stingers.

"Rock Throw again!"

"Back and use Focus Energy again!"

' _ **What the heck is the plan here?'**_ Onix asked.

' _ **That's a good question.'**_ Dart replied. ' _ **I've got no idea.'**_

' _ **Didn't you work something out?'**_

' _ **Nope.'**_

"Dart, charge and Fury Attack!"

' _ **I'm sensing a theme here.'**_ He muttered, flying around Onix and hitting him repeatedly.

"Tackle!"

"Dodge back and use String Shot to slow him down!"

' _ **I now see where this is going.'**_ Onix groaned. ' _ **And I don't like it. Can we go back to that last pattern please?'**_

' _ **Nope.'**_ Dart said, finishing wrapping him up in string.

"Fury Attack! Finish him off!"

' _ **Sure thing boss.'**_ Dart rolled his eyes as he went back to Fury Attack. ' _ **This'll only take the better end of a year.'**_

* * *

Despite his sarcasm, it was only a minute later that Onix collapsed.

"Return." Dart flew over to Mia as Brock returned his Onix. "I must say, that was a surprise. I didn't expect that to happen."

"Dart's pretty good, and Crimson's more powerful than you'd expect." Mia smiled, patting both Pokemon on the head. "Come on back, by the way." Dart waved to them both, and Crimson went over to the stands.

"Well, here's the Boulder Badge." Brock handed over the badge, and sighed. "I'll just go and swap my team out, and then we'll be ready for your challenge." Ash swapped places with Mia as the leader went into another room.

' _Good job.'_ He sent.

' _Thanks. Good luck for you.'_

' _ **Am I first?'**_ Bolt asked, looking up at Ash.

' _Nope, Flutter first. One each, and I'd like to see what these spare Pokemon are first.'_

' _ **Ok.'**_ Brock walked back into the room, and Ash readied Flutter's Pokeball.

"Ready for your go?"

"Yeah." Ash nodded.

"Very well. Omanyte, go!"

"Flutter, let's begin!"

' _ **Right Ash!'**_ The Butterfree said, floating above the ground, just out of reach of Omanyte.

"Omanyte, use Water Gun!"

"Dodge it and use Confusion!"

"Be careful Omanyte!"

"Try knocking it around with Gust!"

' _ **Is there actually a plan to this?'**_ Bolt asked rhetorically.

' _Yes there is. I'll get to it.'_ Ash replied, one eye on the battlefield. "Gust and Confusion!" ' _Distraction tactics!'_

' _ **Right!'**_ The small butterfly started beating his wings frantically, and his eyes were glowing a bright pink. The result was a small tornado that Omanyte was unable to escape from, being held up psychically as it formed, unable to move as the tornado formed. Caught in the centre of the windstorm, Omanyte struggled against the psychic grip of Flutter, but that was something they'd dealt with before.

Since Butterfree weren't naturally Psychic type, moves like Confusion and Psychic were much weaker than they could be, even for the most powerful of the species. And, as a Mew, both Mia and Ash were very powerful Psychics. So, as a project, they'd done a bit of special training with Flutter's Confusion attack to make it as strong as it could be after about two hours work. Because of this, the Confusion attack was able to hold the Omanyte in place.

"Omanyte!" Brock called out desperately. "Try using Water Gun to disrupt the Butterfree's concentration!"

"Flutter! Try firing a Sleep Powder into the tornado!" Ash replied. "Do your best to hold everything together, but if you need to drop the Confusion, go ahead! Keep up the tornado!"

' _ **I'll do my best!'**_ He managed. The Bug type started flapping his wings even more rapidly, and a fine green dust twirled around him, before being caught on the whirling winds and dragged towards the struggling Rock type. Flutter managed to sustain all three attacks for a few moments, then winced, his eyes losing the pink glow and finally releasing Omanyte. Now free from the Bug's grasp and being thrown around the tornado, the fossil Pokemon struggled to aim in order to knock Flutter out, firing Water Gun's in a vain attempt to hit. It's wasn't completely in vain, however; one of the attacks hit Flutter in the right wing, making it too damp to fly. He dropped like a stone, his left wing flapping desperately to try and send more of the Sleep Powder over to the still trapped Pokemon, who was starting to feel its effects.

"Flutter!" Ash yelled. "Are you ok?"

' _ **Sure am!'**_ He shouted back.

"Right. Keep releasing the Sleep Powder, but use Confusion instead! The tornado's not lasting!"

' _ **I've got ya!'**_ The small butterfly focused again, his eyes taking on the pink tint again, taking over holding Omanyte in place for the Sleep Powder as the tornado fell apart. Finally, after a few seconds of struggling, Omanyte fell asleep, slumping over in Flutter's psychic grip.

"Good job! Keep up the Confusion!" Ash commanded, getting Omanyte thrown around the room until it finally fainted. Flutter finally released his hold, slumping over in exhaustion at maintaining all three attacks for so long. Bolt ran out onto the field and caught him, offering support.

' _ **That was awesome.'**_ He stated.

' _ **Heh… Glad you liked it.'**_ Flutter panted.

"It was cool Flutter. Good job." Ash walked over to them, and patted the butterfly on the head. "Get some rest, ok?"

' _ **Thanks.'**_ He nodded his head in agreement, then disappeared in a red flash of light as he was returned.

' _ **I'm next, right?'**_ Bolt asked, as they walked back.

"Good job." Brock congratulated them, stopping Ash from replying. "I didn't expect that from a Butterfree, but given what your cousin pulled off, I really shouldn't be surprised."

"Thanks." Ash smiled. "Bolt, you're up now!"

"Kabuto, go!" The small Rock-Water type clicked, focusing on Bolt, who ran into the arena.

' _ **Right. Plan?'**_ He asked, glancing back.

"Quick Attack!" Ash told him.

"Kabuto, use Mud Shot to keep him away!" Brock countered. The little fossil clicked affirmative, and fired a blast of mud towards Bolt. Still on the ground with his speed heightened from Quick Attack, Bolt simply flipped out of the way before continuing his run towards the opponent. Just moments before Bolt reached his target, Brock called out another command. "Harden!" Knocking head first into the now even harder shell, Bolt knocked the shelled Pokemon out of the way, flipping upside down.

"Bolt, Thundershock!" Ash called. "Hit him while he's stuck!"

' _ **Good idea.'**_ Bolt replied, somewhat woozily, and fired out a widespread blast of electricity, frying his opponent.

"Kabuto! Try and flip over, then use Mud Shot!" Brock retaliated.

"Dodge with Quick Attack, then Thundershock again and charge!" Bolt started to follow the chain of attacks, avoiding the mud with less grace than before, then charged forwards, a Thundershock attack crackling around him. The electric mouse ran into the shellfish again, who was still firing Mud Shots towards him, most of which luckily missed. However, instead of releasing the Thundershock before hitting him like Ash had meant for him to do, he crashed into Kabuto still cloaked in electricity. This caused a rather large explosion, and Ash winced. "That wasn't quite what I meant..." He muttered. The small amount of dust that had been kicked up settled, leaving Kabuto knocked out upside down, and Bolt panting from using so much power in one attack.

"Kabuto, return." Brock pulled the fried Rock-Water type back, and smiled. "Well done. That was an exceptional use of control over electricity."

"Thanks." Ash replied, walking onto the field and picking up Bolt. "It was more explosive than I'd expected, honestly, but it worked."

' _ **Thanks.'**_ Bolt added woozily. ' _ **Let's not do it again, please?'**_ Crimson hopped down from the stands and laughed.

' _ **Quiet down little Bolt.'**_ She grinned. ' _ **It was a pretty spectacular explosion.'**_

' _ **Thanks for the complement. Now, I just want to sleep. Can I do that, you think?'**_ Bolt sighed, looking down at the other starter.

' _ **Hope so. It wouldn't do to have a sleepy partner.'**_ Crimson responded, chuckling. While this small exchange had been going on, Brock had handed Ash the Boulder Badge, and both Mia and Misty had come down to join them.

"Nice job Ash." Misty smiled. "I wasn't expecting that!"

"Neither was I." Mia laughed. "I honestly think that improvisation is a genetic trait. I certainly can quite well, and you've seen what Ash can do."

"It was especially impressive. A great performance from both of you." Brock congratulated.

"Thanks." Ash replied. "Where to next, Mia?"

"Cerulean City." She sighed, shaking her head. "I swear, you could make _some_ effort to remember this stuff."

"But I'm no good with organising." Ash argued. "You know this."

"True." Mia grinned, lifting Crimson up in her arms. "Let's get these four to the Pokemon Centre, then I'll see if I can knock some semblance of a plan into your head." The three trainers all laughed at that, walking out of the building towards the Centre. Brock lingered a few moments, with a thoughtful expression on his face.

* * *

The group now all stood at the outskirts of the town. Misty had a worried expression on her face, while the other four just looked slightly exasperated.

"Misty, what's up with you? You weren't this worried when it came to the forest. I thought you loved Water types." Mia sighed.

"Y… yeah, but…" Misty stuttered.

"So what's the problem? Even if there wasn't a gym there, we'd need to stop and resupply, so come on!" Ash finished his 'cousin's statement, and started towards Mount Moon, the giant mountain that lay between them and Cerulean. Mia was behind him, and Misty trailed behind them.

' _Hey Ash, slow down a sec.'_

' _What? Why?'_ He asked, lowering his pace as requested.

' _Cause in about ten seconds, we're going to be getting into an event. And I want to see it.'_

' _An event? What kind?'_

' _Don't worry about that. Just pick wisely~.'_ Mia ended on a singsong note, and Ash sighed slightly.

' _Mom, I thought you'd gotten better over time, not worse.'_ Luckily, for both Mew's involved, Misty interrupted the upcoming argument with a surprised statement.

"Hey, isn't that Brock?" She asked, pointing. Ash turned and squinted, then nodded.

"Yeah, it is. What's he doing here?"

"Not a clue, but I think we'll find out soon."

' _Liar.'_ He shot to his 'cousin', who smirked.

' _Of course I am dear. Don't need to show off, after all.'_ Crimson chuckled from her arms, and she looked down, before setting her down at the side of the road and kneeling next to her.

' _Sure, leave this to me…'_ Ash rolled his eyes.

"Hey Brock!" Misty waved to him. "What's the problem?" He stopped next to them, taking a moment to catch his breath, then spoke.

"Mind if I come with you guys?" Ash and Bolt blinked, surprised, while Mia just grinned and Misty just tilted her head.

"What? Why? And don't you have a gym to run?"

"My dad's taking over that. And I've always wanted to be a breeder over a trainer, so I was thinking I could come with you guys."

' _ **Is this what Mia was talking about?'**_ Bolt asked.

' _Yep.'_ Was the simple reply from the girl.

"Well, I don't have a reason to complain." Ash stated. "What about you two?"

"Sure!" Misty said cheerfully. "I'm fine with that."

"Same here." Mia added, picking up Crimson and walking over again. "It'll be nice to have more friends for the road."

' _ **Yeah!'**_ Both of the little Pokemon chorused.

' _ **This'll be fun!'**_ Bolt added, enthusiastic.

' _ **Only issue is not letting the Pokemon thing slip.'**_ Crimson continued, not as happily.

"Well, welcome aboard!" Mia grinned.

"Thanks." Brock looked slightly startled at being accepted so quickly, but shook it off. "Where to first?"

"We're heading through Mount Moon to Cerulean." Ash told him, nodding in the direction of the aforementioned city.

"Great! Let's go." The now expanded group started off again, with the two Pokemon rattling off at each other. Ash shut them out, smiling at their childish argument.

It felt like nothing could possibly go wrong.

* * *

Once again, a dark beast laughed. It was a cruel thing, pitiless, and seemed heavier than steel.

' _ **Silly creature.'**_ It laughed, flapping a great wing and dispelling a cloud of purple fog. ' _ **This it grand! It doesn't know anything!'**_ The beast laughed, and attempted to mimic the lilting tune Mew's voice carried. '" _ **Nothing can possibly go wrong!" Hahaha!'**_ It growled, and leapt off the semisolid… thing, it sat on, with a huge beat of the enormous wings. ' _ **Good luck little Mew, and her darling child too. You'll need it more than ever. But first, enjoy your ridiculous 'peace'. Since it sure as the Distortion World won't last when I get my claws on you.'**_ The beast flew, heading straight up, though the world around it showed no indication of motion. It laughed again, then vanished into a deep bank of fog that suddenly appeared, swallowing the creature and leaving behind no trace.

* * *

 **AN: And done!**

 **K: It only took two months.**

 **SV: Bit longer, honestly. But we shouldn't leave the readers waiting for the explanation.**

 **K: Right. Since it's about 80% your fault, I'm going to get coffee or something.**

 **SV: Neat. Grab me a hot chocolate, ok? *Waits until the door closes with a small slam.* Right, explanation time! In a list, so it's easier to read for all of you.**

 **1: New beginnings. With that ending, I've started on the second arc. This, obviously, takes time. I'm mostly working alone, and a lot of the time measurements I use for the plot comes from a four year old timeline, which is pretty vague. As such, it's been taking a higher priority.**

 **2: Guardians of Power. This one also got hit by the New beginnings end thing, but less, since I actually had chapters stocked up and ready. It's a little behind too, but that's ok. As it is, though, I'm working more on that than this.**

 **3: Length. Child of Mew is not, surprisingly, all that long. It's ok, but most of that comes from bad planning, like five chapters of exposition before anything happened. On the other hand, the others are** _ **actually**_ **long. So, those two naturally take priority over this one, simply because otherwise those will literally take years to finish.**

 **4: Enjoyment. This is sorta odd. I like writing Child of Mew, and I have some- hopefully- cool stuff planned. It's just that I don't wanna write the gym battles. To explain why, I'll use Brock for an example. For New beginnings, I wrote the battle twice; once for my OC Alex, and once for Ash. Then in a currently unuploaded chapter of Guardians of Power, I did it once for Ashley. Now, I've just done it twice here. That's** _ **five times**_ **I've done** _ **one**_ **battle. I probably shouldn't complain, but most the upcoming gyms are going to take that to** _ **six**_ **, as I also wrote my OC Leo's battle against Misty and the rest for New beginnings. The main issue is that I don't want to write most the filler stuff, but the good bit doesn't happen otherwise.**

 ***Sigh* Right, rant over. I'll do my best to keep writing, but Child of Mew is likely going to slow down for a while, since like I said, the others will take forever otherwise. So, sorry about that. Anyway, Ki probably won't be back for this, so I'll do it alone. In about a day, I'm closing the pole. Until then, I'll have the results viewable, so you can see how it is. So, in about a day from upload, I'll end the pole. If an Alolan Pokemon ends up winning, I'll make a shortlist of ideas with Ki and we'll put the next one up. And since I've been asked, yes, the Pokemon will be Ash's. Should've mentioned that before, but whoops! Anyway, I think that's everything, so I'll see you next time, with the pole results and maybe the next pole too. Bye!**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Happy New Year everyone! I'm running alone today, because Ki's busy doing other things and the girls are still elsewhere. I'm not gonna talk much up here, and just move on to the chapter! Don't own Pokemon.**

* * *

 **Chapter 24.**

* * *

The group, now having the Pewter Gym Leader turned Breeder with them as well as the Water type trainer and the two Mew in disguise, headed towards Mount Moon. Misty sighed.

"Mount Moon. Doesn't it sound romantic?" She asked, with stars in her eyes. Crimson stifled a chuckle.

' _ **Yeah, if your idea of romantic is synonymous with a bunch of boring old rocks.'**_ She whispered to Bolt, who was walking next to her. He grinned, rolling his eyes.

' _ **I mean, it could be for some.'**_ He replied fairly. ' _ **In my opinion though, you're right.'**_ Both Pokemon chuckled, and their trainers smiled.

"Well, I'm glad those two are getting along ok." Mia said to Ash.

"What, did you think they wouldn't?" He asked.

"Of course not. But it's good to know that they are." She shrugged. "Hell, all of our teams get along well."

"They _were_ all friends before we caught them." Ash reminded her. "Anyway, think you'll go for anything in Mount Moon?"

"Not sure, honestly. I'm not really interested in Zubat or Geodude, Paras is meh, and Clefairy are really rare." She shook her head. "You?"

"Honestly, I feel the same. Nothing really interests me here."

"So, pretty much a chill run through the mountain, and see if there's anything we'd like on the other side?"

"I can get behind that." Ash grinned, raising his arm to catch Bolt as he leapt up to his shoulder, while Mia just picked Crimson up. "You know if you evolve you wouldn't be able to do this anymore?"

' _ **I know.'**_ He said simply.

' _ **I wouldn't mind!'**_ Crimson said cheerfully. ' _ **It'd be fun to be able to fly!'**_

"I guess it would, wouldn't it?" Mia grinned.

' _ **Not like you need it.'**_ Bolt grumbled.

' _ **Heh, I guess not. But hey, it'll still be fun!'**_ Crimson laughed.

"Come on you two, stop arguing." Mia grinned. "We'll head through the mountain as quickly as we can, then go to the next gym in Cerulean and be on our way again, ok?"

' _ **Sure.'**_ Bolt smiled.

' _ **We'll be heading to a game soon, I assume?'**_ Crimson asked.

"Sure. We'll make sure you're ready for the next gym." Ash replied. "I think it's Water typed, so you'll be in trouble Crimson." She flinched.

' _ **Yeah, keep me away from the water.'**_

"Will do chick." Mia told her, arranging plans already. "The issue is that neither Arch nor Dart do well in water either, but we might be able to work around that."

"I'll see if Sarie wants to battle here, then possibly Flutter."

' _ **What, not me?'**_ Bolt asked, in pleading tones.

"You had Brock's gym, and you'll be super effective, so it's not much of a challenge." Ash said fairly.

' _ **Fine.'**_ Bolt pouted… then sat bolt upright, ears twitching. ' _ **Do you hear that?'**_

"Not in this shape." Mia replied. "Terrible human hearing. What's wrong?"

' _ **There's a man shouting… and what sounds like a lot of wings.'**_ He jumped down, sprinting off, and the other three followed.

"Ash? Where's Bolt going?" Misty asked as they caught up.

"Not sure." He admitted. "I think he heard something flying about."

"How'd you get that?" Brock asked, confused.

"My cousin's always been good with Pokemon." Mia said, reusing the same excuse from before. "I can sort of understand the meaning, and so can Ash."

"You're better than me, though." Ash replied.

' _ **Why the hell are there so many Zubat here?!'**_ Bolt yelled, looking over at them from behind a rock. ' _ **It's daytime, and there's tons!'**_

"I guess we should go and find out what's going on." Misty said, to general agreement. All five of them picked up the pace, rounding the corner to see a scientist getting attacked by a swarm of Zubat.

"Ember!"

"Thundershock!" Both commands were given before the two humans beside them had even figured out what was happening. Most of the purple bats scattered, squeaking in pain, but Bolt and Crimson walked over to one of them and started talking to him. Ash moved over, attempting to eavesdrop on their conversation, but was glomped by the scientist.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" He said rapidly. "I was so worried those bats were going to eat me, but you saved me from them!"

"Ahem." Mia coughed, putting a hand on the scientist's back. "Mind letting go of my cousin? And who are you, anyway?"

"Oh! My apologies." He let go of Ash, who gasped. "And my name's Seymour! I've been doing research into Mount Moon for quite some time, looking for evidence on my theory!"

"What theory is that?" Mia was often curious about theories to do with Pokemon. After all, she _was_ a god, and she liked to hear the ideas that humans came up with over the years.

"The theory that Pokemon came from space!" This, however, had her bursting to laugh. She covered it up by glancing at Ash, who had the same look of amusement on his face.

"That certainly sounds interesting." Misty smiled. Bolt and Crimson went over to Ash, with the Zubat they'd been talking to hanging from Bolt's tail. They rattled something off, and Ash, playing into the excuses they'd been using, glanced over at his cousin for help. She chuckled, going over to them.

"Did you two find something out?"

' _ **Yep.'**_ Crimson, taking a hint from Ash telepathically, spoke slowly, as though she was giving Mia a chance to get the idea. ' _ **There's a lot of light's in the cave. It's hurting the Pokemon.'**_ Taking a few seconds, she nodded, then gasped.

"Oh, you poor things! Here, my bag's pretty dark, you can hide in there until everything gets fixed, is that ok?"

' _ **She understands us perfectly, but fakes only getting bits of it.'**_ Bolt added. The bat nodded.

' _ **Ok miss. Thank you.'**_ Mia picked him up and carefully put him in her bag, putting a cloth over him to help block the light.

"Is that better?" She asked softly.

' _ **Yes, thank you.'**_

"Happy to help." She closed the bag slightly, making sure nothing would spill out, and turned to the rest. Misty and Brock were inquisitive, while Seymour was excited.

"You understand Pokemon?"

"Sort of. I can get the gist of what they're saying with body language, but most of it's a mystery."

"What did they say?" Misty asked.

"Well, according to Crimson, there's a ton of lights strung up in Mount Moon, and it's hurting the Pokemon."

"Yes, there are a lot of lights suddenly." Seymour confirmed. "I don't know what's going on in there."

"We may as well see." Ash said.

"Anything else Crimson?" Mia asked her starter.

' _ **Nope. The Zubat didn't seem to know anything, though he might be too dazed from the light.'**_

"Right. I guess we'll just head in." The starters traded glances.

' _ **Flare Shock?'**_

' _ **Flare Shock.'**_ Crimson confirmed. She winked. ' _ **Hope you've got enough power.'**_

' _ **Of course I do.'**_ Bolt replied, with fake offense. ' _ **Let's just hope you can keep up.'**_

' _ **Is that a challenge?'**_

"No, you two. No challenges." Mia scolded, and both jumped as they abruptly realised the Mew had been listening to their conversation. Ash chuckled behind her, picking up Bolt.

"Yeah, now's not the time." He smiled. "Let's go sort out this cave then, shall we?" Bolt wriggled out of his hands.

' _ **Right.'**_ He ran into the mountain entrance, ears twitching. Crimson, the three humans and the two Mew followed, both Mew having a conversation mentally.

' _What do you think's wrong?'_

' _Well, either Seymour's more of a douche than he seems, or there are actual, legitimate morons that really want a gang of angry Pokemon after them.'_ Mia guessed.

' _Morons, huh? I know a group of people who'd fit that bill pretty well…'_

' _Nah, it can't be them. I mean, they're stupid and unobservant, but they can't be_ that _stupid, can they?'_

' _I don't know…'_ Ash replied, thinking back to both encounters. ' _Seems like something they'd do.'_ Meanwhile, Bolt was sniffing at the air.

' _ **Smell anything?'**_

' _ **Mostly normal. Zubat, Paras, Sandshrew… humans… our trainers are really distinctive… and what might be a Clefairy.'**_ Brock nudged Mia, who quickly relayed what he'd said.

"A Clefairy?" Misty's eyes lit up. "I'd love to see one!"

"Just don't catch it!" Seymour asked. "We can't damage the ecosystem here!"

"I'll only catch something if they wanted me to catch them." Brock assured him, to general agreement.

"Anyway, maybe we could as the Clefairy for help." Ash interrupted. "I mean, they'd be the least likely to be affected by the amount of light, so they might be able to tell us something about what's going on."

"Good point." Mia gave, looking at Bolt.

' _ **This way, I think.'**_

"Right, just follow Bolt." She said. "And be quiet. From what I know, Clefairy have really sensitive hearing, so even things we think are quiet could sound like a gun going off by our ear to them." The others winced, and she nodded. "So keep it down."

"Ok." Bolt bounced along at the front of the group, doing the job of listening out for any Clefairy that might be around that they would be able to question. It was a surprisingly short search, with Bolt's sensitive hearing and everyone behind him walking quietly, and a Clefairy almost ran into them, bouncing along and singing.

' _ **I've got the piece! I've got the piece!'**_ She called, running obliviously past them. ' _ **I'll finish the stone! I'm on the way!'**_ Bolt signaled for everyone to stay still, and walked over to her.

' _ **Excuse me?'**_ He asked her softly.

' _ **Eeep!'**_ She jumped. ' _ **Um, hello little Pikachu. What do you need?'**_

' _ **Well, I was wondering if you knew why there were so many lights around.'**_ He replied. ' _ **See, my trainer and our friends were coming through here, and we found that there were lots of lights disturbing the Pokemon here. Can you say what's going on?'**_

' _ **Um, yeah. I saw some odd people around earlier. I don't know who they were.'**_

' _ **Right. Thank you for your help.'**_ He looked back at Crimson, who was 'explaining' to Mia and Ash. ' _ **Would you like us to help you where you need to go? If there's people wandering, they might try and catch you.'**_

' _ **Thank you.'**_ She said shyly. ' _ **Can you make sure the humans don't come in there, though? It's really special.'**_

' _ **Sure.'**_ Mia stepped forwards.

"This looks troublesome."

"Trouble?" A voice echoed.

"Make it double." As Team Rocket dropped from the ceiling, Ash glanced at his 'cousin'.

' _Told you.'_

' _Fine, you win this round. Flare Shock?'_

' _Let's just kick them out before they become a problem.'_

"Team Rocket again?" Misty shouted, exasperated.

"Brock, can you look over the Zubat in my bag? Something tells me there's a problem." Mia growled.

' _ **Plan?'**_ The starters chirped.

"Fire in the hole!"

"Lightning too!"

' _ **Flare Shock!'**_ They finished, letting the hugely powerful attack loose.

"Oh come on!" Jessie shrieked. "Are we just getting foiled immediately?"

"Looks that way." James intoned.

"Team Rocket's blasting off again!"

"Problem solved." Mia laughed, dusting off her hands and crouching down by Clefairy. "Are you alright?"

' _ **Yes, thank you.'**_ She nodded.

"Good. Let's get you to where you need to be, and we'll make sure nobody hurts you."

' _ **Right.'**_ She started off, and Bolt and Crimson stepped to her left and right, with Mia and Ash behind her. The other humans, along with the Zubat Brock was holding, followed them.

' _Damn do I hate caves.'_ Mia sighed.

' _Why? Because you can't fly?'_

' _And it's too cramped. I mean, with the humans here, my instinct is telling me to Transform and protect them, but I can't do that.'_

' _I didn't know you even had those instincts.'_

' _Normally I bury them, since otherwise I'd spend more time Transformed into something to protect you all than as something safe for me. I'm a little on edge in the enclosed space, though.'_

' _I guess that's fair. Mew time later?'_

' _If you don't mind missing a few hours sleep. Unless you mean a Mew Game?'_

' _Sure, we'll do that.'_

' _ **Mia, Ash, quit talking.'**_ Crimson scolded. ' _ **We need to pay attention.'**_

' _I am.'_ She told her. ' _Massive sensor shield, plus natural instincts.'_

' _ **Over here!'**_ Clefairy announced. ' _ **Up here, and then I'm fine!'**_

"Alright." Ash chuckled at the little pink Pokemon's enthusiasm. "We'll stay down here and be on our way soon."

' _ **Thank you for guiding me.'**_ She replied, bouncing up the top of the cliff.

"Got you now!" Suddenly, Meowth leapt for her, trying to get the small black shard from her hands. Startled, she jumped back, and fell down the edge.

"Oh no!" Brock yelled.

"Clefairy!" Mia shimmered, ready to lose her disguise, until Ash grabbed a Pokeball from her belt.

"Arch, catch Clefairy!" He was rocketing up before he'd properly finished forming, closing his claws around her arms and flying downwards. "Bolt!" Ash held his arm out, giving his Pikachu a springboard to shoot upwards towards Meowth. "Thundershock!"

"Ouch!" He was sent flying into the air, charred, while Arch dropped Clefairy to go and catch his partner.

' _ **Thanks.'**_

' _ **Not a problem.'**_ He replied, letting the little Electric type down.

' _ **Mia, you're lucky no-one noticed the shimmer!'**_ Crimson yelled at her trainer. ' _ **Why didn't you think of Arch first?'**_

' _ **Chick, calm down.'**_ Arch told her. ' _ **She panicked, and given most instincts she probably went with the first reaction she had.'**_

"Yes, now please calm down." Mia patted Arch on the head. "Thanks for catching them."

' _ **No problem.'**_ Arch tapped the ball Ash was holding, and he handed the bird to Mia.

"Are you alright?" Ash asked Clefairy.

' _ **Yes. It was just a bit worrying, that's all.'**_

"I'll bet. Bolt, anything else?"

' _ **Nope. All clear.'**_

' _ **I'll be going then. Thank you for your help.'**_ She waved, running off.

"Nice Pokemon." Misty remarked.

"I think it's a trait of Fairy typed Pokemon." Mia guessed. "My friend back home had a Sylveon, and she's pretty polite."

"I'm going to go back to the cave and see what I can do about the lights." Ash said. "Bolt, let's go."

' _ **Aye aye captain.'**_ He grinned. ' _ **How we doing this?'**_ They entered the cave.

"I'll look." He told him, closing his eyes. "There's a lot of electricity that way. You might be able to short circuit it."

' _ **Lead the way. I'll start charging for a shock.'**_ Ash started running, heading straight for the power source he could sort of feel. ' _ **By the way, what happened with Mia?'**_

"Enclosed spaces plus danger plus humans in close proximity equals an extreme set off of her instincts. She wanted to just change to help out, which is dangerous for her. I think she's just stir crazy."

' _ **But didn't she raise you? She must be used to being human.'**_

"Yeah, but even then she had her powers most of the time. Right now, she's stuck as just a human." Ash turned a corner. "Here, by the way."

' _ **Right, I see it. I'll be right back.'**_ Prudently, Ash turned away from the upcoming light show, putting up a small, opaque shield as cover. A small explosion detonated, and Bolt dropped down. ' _ **Done. And ouch.'**_

"You ok?"

' _ **Yeah, fine.'**_ He waved, jumping back to Ash's shoulder. ' _ **Which way's back?'**_

"This one." They flashed pink, and reappeared at the entrance. "Done!" He waved, walking out of the cave.

"Really? That fast?"

"It wasn't that hard to find." He told them. "Now, let's get moving to Cerulean!"

' _ **Um...'**_ Zubat raised a wing, still with Brock. ' _ **Can you do me a favour?'**_

"Sure. What's wrong?"

' _ **Can you tell this human I want to travel with him?'**_ He pointed to Brock. ' _ **He's nice.'**_

"Hey Brock. You've got a new Pokemon." Mia grinned. "Zubat's taken a shine to you."

"Really?" He looked at the little purple Pokemon in his arms, who nodded. "Well, sure." He took out a Pokeball, tapping him on the head. "Welcome to the team."

' _ **Good one.'**_ Crimson giggled. ' _ **Now let's go!'**_

"Alright Crimson, calm down." Mia rolled her eyes. "She wants to get a move on."

"Ok." Seymour waved. "I'm staying here to continue my research."

"Well, good luck." Ash smiled, since Mia was busy hiding her fit of giggles by looking around for a route. "Maybe we'll see you around."

"Good luck on your travels." Seymour said.

"Come on, this way!" Mia waved.

"Ok, ok, we're coming!" Ash laughed, running after the other Mew. Their human travelling companions traded glances, then laughed, running after them.

* * *

 **AN: Ok, this chapter's kinda short, mostly because I dealt with the main issue of Team Rocket early, via explosives.**

 **K: Since we all know that's the best method of dealing with villains.**

 **SV: Nice to see you again, by the way.**

 **K: Eh, things happen. Also, Trixie sent me copies of those extracts, so I've been reading them. This one's pretty good, if broken from everything it's supposed to be. *Passing a stack of pages over.***

 **SV: Yeah, it's a work in progress, and you know what the background is. Now's not the time to talk about future projects that might not happen, though.**

 **K: No, it's not. Anyhow, the poles?**

 **SV: Oh yeah. There's two getting put up. First, Alolan Pokemon won the pole for Charmander's replacement, so there's a selection for that. Second, I asked before Sun and Moon were released about giving Misty a Surskit. Well, looking at everything, why not Dewpider? It stays Water type when it evolves, unlike Surskit, so there's that. That's the second pole; Dewpider, yay or nay?**

 **K: I don't even know when the Dewpider would be joining the fic.**

 **SV: I do. Anyway, cast your votes, and have a happy new year. Maybe it'll be better than this last year.**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Howdy everyone, hope you're doing well.**

 **P: Hi! We're back in this fic now!**

 **K: They've been terrorising us in the other fics more, so they've left us alone.**

 **T: Ki, you only help with Guardians and this. You don't help in Second Start.**

 **K: Not in the AN's. I help Shadow making the actual story, remember?**

 **SV: Ok guys, no need to fight. I'll bring up anything we need at the bottom, so we'll see you there.**

 **P: They don't own Pokemon.**

* * *

 **Chapter 25.**

* * *

The slight race that had started as the group left Mount Moon dissolved as they approached Cerulean. In place of this, however, Misty's anxiety had returned tenfold. She was extremely jumpy, and had attempted multiple times to persuade them to skip over Cerulean and go to Vermillion instead. In fact, that was happening right now.

"But really, why bother going to Cerulean? We could just head for Vermillion and pick up the badge there, then get one of the others instead."

"Ok Misty, I give up." Mia sighed. "What the heck is the problem here? You've been progressively getting more and more jittery as we've gotten closer to Cerulean, and I really can't see why. Cerulean's a Water type city, mostly, so why the worry?" Misty sighed, wincing.

"It's because… I don't want to see my sisters again." She admitted reluctantly.

' _ **Your sisters?'**_ Crimson asked, confused.

"Yeah." Misty replied, after letting Mia translate. "The four of us are all gym leaders there." She kicked at the dirt. "I left a few months back to try and prove that I was a good trainer. The other three aren't at all, they care more about their water shows than the actual gym, and honestly I'm worried at what state it'll be in."

"Well, why didn't you say anything?" Ash asked. "We could have tried to replan if you'd have just said. Now we might as well head in, but you can stay away if you want to."

"No, I'll come too." She decided, after a moment. "I'll come. I want to see how the gym's doing, and maybe I'll be able to show I'm strong enough for them to notice me as a trainer."

"Alright." Mia smiled warmly. "Let's go." As the group set off again, with Misty being a little less worried than before, Ash turned his mind to his parent.

' _You really didn't know?'_

' _Honestly.'_ She replied. ' _Just because I'm Psychic doesn't make me know everything. And I don't tend to read minds as often as I could. Not anymore, anyway.'_

' _True.'_ Ash had been told, by some of the other legendaries when they'd visited and Mew had been with the children, that his mom had used to use Psychic abilities much more liberally, reading minds whenever she wanted to know _anything_. She'd stopped doing it about a hundred years before she'd found him when the Sinnoh trio of legends had fought, and none of the other legends had ever bothered to ask her why. He'd been curious himself, but didn't ask either. If she wanted to bring up why, she would, he supposed. ' _What do you think will happen when we get to the gym?'_

' _Not a clue. It's exciting though.'_

' _Sure.'_ Ash sweatdropped. ' _We'll go with that.'_

* * *

The group of four got to the city much quicker now, since Misty wasn't trying to hold them back anymore. Most the city was pretty empty too, due to it being quite late, so they headed straight to the Pokemon Centre, resolving to challenge the gym in the morning. In order to spare Mia from having to try and translate every word to the rest of the group, Bolt and Crimson were having their entire conversation at a speed that meant Mia was able to claim that she couldn't decode it, since they were talking too fast. Currently, Bolt was telling a story from his old group, the pack of Pichu and Pikachu he'd lived in before he'd been caught by Professor Oak.

' _ **... So some of the really young Pichu, like barely past being hatchlings, decided they would drive off the big, scary bird. They all charged into the area, only to see one of the Fearow**_ **bosses** _ **sitting there!'**_ Bolt laughed. ' _ **Man, they got lucky that he was a pretty mild one in comparison to the rest of that lot.'**_ Crimson brushed away her latest batch of giggles.

' _ **Dear me, that was silly of them.'**_ She then looked at him, concerned. ' _ **Are they ok?'**_

' _ **I think so. This was about a year back, and I hadn't really seen much of them since, to be honest. Their Memma's were a bit of a pair, too. Bit mad, and never really had much of a logic centre in their brains.'**_

' _ **Man, it sounds like it must have been fun living in a pack. We starters didn't ever have anything like that happen to us.'**_

' _ **Really? I'd have thought there'd be a fair bit of excitement, even on a ranch.'**_ Bolt blinked, while the trainers checked in for a set of rooms.

' _ **A bit, to be fair. But most of the time, we were good friends. I stayed with the other 'mons that were my age, and we never really fought. We were all really good friends, so we never fought and tended to share everything.'**_

' _ **Huh. Most of the others my age tended to argue a lot. I liked to stay out of it, but sometimes I got dragged in anyway.'**_

' _ **Really?'**_

' _ **Yeah. There was this one time when-'**_

"Ok, you two, wrap this up now." Mia interrupted, causing the two starters to jump and both Mew to laugh. "We're going to sleep, and we'll do the gym tomorrow."

' _ **No Game?'**_

"Nah, no point. Ash should check with Sarie if she's good to fight, and I'll use Arch and Dart."

"I'll just 'port somewhere and do it now." The young hybrid passed Bolt to Mia, then popped out of existence.

' _ **Is he always this stupid?'**_ Crimson facepalmed.

"Not really. He's just not thinking about safety right now. He's more focused on the battle tomorrow, so he wants to get that out of the way before anything else. He'll be back in a minute." Mia told them.

' _ **To be honest, I'm surprised you're so happy with having two humans in the group.'**_ Bolt admitted.

"I'm really not." Mia replied, wincing. "I know it's not right to let past experiences cloud my view of all humans, especially not when it all happened so long ago, but it still makes me worry. If I had it my way, it'd just be me and my child with no one else."

' _ **Why? What happened?'**_ Crimson asked, confused. Mia looked just as evasive as Misty had for a while, and looked very relieved when Ash popped back into the corridor.

"Sarie's good to go! She's a little worried about doing well, but I reminded her that she'll have backup if she ends up needing it." Mia giggled.

"Yes, well, at least she's fine. She is quite a timid Pokemon. Still, was it really necessary to dash off like that?"

"Probably not." He laughed nervously. "Still, I wanted to make sure now, rather than doing it tomorrow."

"I guess." She grinned. "I need some sleep. See you tomorrow?"

"Naturally." Both trainers split, leaving the two starters lingering in the hall for a moment.

' _ **What was that about?'**_ Bolt asked rhetorically.

' _ **No idea.'**_ Crimson answered anyway. ' _ **I doubt we'll get anything out of them. Mia's a legendary, so she'll be harder to press the truth out of.'**_

' _ **And Ash?'**_

' _ **I have doubts that he'll know anything, or be willing to let it on if he does.'**_ The Fire type yawned. ' _ **Still, I'm going to sleep. I might see you in the morning, though it might be after the battle. Hell, I'll probably stay in my Pokeball for it. No water for me, thank you.'**_

' _ **I'll tell you about it if you miss it.'**_ Bolt promised.

' _ **Thanks.'**_ The two shared a warm smile, then headed off to their respective rooms.

* * *

The next morning, the group of five met up in the lobby. Crimson was staying in her Pokeball until the end of the battle, since she couldn't be anywhere the water that would be all over the arena. Misty looked quite nervous again as they left, though at least this time she explained why.

"It's not even that I'm that nervous about seeing my sisters." She told them as the five walked towards the gym. "I'm honestly more worried about seeing the state that the gym is in after I left it to them to handle."

"How long've you been gone, again?" Ash asked.

"About three months."

"I'm sure it can't be _that_ bad." Mia assured her. "I mean, they can't be that incompetent, can they?"

* * *

They could.

When Misty had lead them to the gym, occasionally pointing out areas she'd liked visiting when she was younger, before she'd taken over the gym, they found three girls outside being confronted by a League official of some kind, who seemed extremely angry.

"Those're my sister's she's talking to." Misty informed them.

"I wonder what the problem is?" Brock asked, to no reply. Instead, they just walked over, catching the tail end of the sentence.

"...There is no possible way that the three of you could possibly run this gym yourselves. The three of you are utterly incompetent." She told them.

"Um, excuse me miss?" Misty tried.

"Yes? What is it?" The woman's voice turned kind as she regarded Misty.

"I was wondering what was going on? Is there a problem here?"

"Unfortunately, yes. These three behind me are completely incompetent at running this gym. Are you here for a challenge?"

"No, but my friends are. I'm Misty Waterflower, the youngest of the four sisters, and I'm also qualified as a gym leader here."

"Misty?" She glanced down at a clipboard. "Oh yes, I remember you. Did awfully well on the test."

"Yeah. I started travelling almost straight away, though, since I had a disagreement with my sisters. I thought they'd be good enough to run the gym in my absence."

"Well, I'm sorry to say that you were wrong. Still, since you're here, can I test you too? I need to know that at least one person can run this place effectively."

"Sure. Though, I have an idea." She motioned towards Ash and Mia, who stepped forwards slightly. "My two friends need a challenge anyway. So, if you don't mind, could we do that at the same time? Two Pokemon, and I'll take them both in a double battle."

"That is acceptable. Go on ahead, and I'll observe your challenge." The three nodded, heading inside to take their places on the floating arena, while the other five went up to the stands.

' _Sarie and Arch?'_ Ash asked his battle partner silently.

' _I'd say so.'_ Mia nodded minutely. ' _They're good friends, so they'll work well together, and they haven't had much to do recently. Plus, we can't use Crimson or Bolt, because water, and using the Bugs would feel too much like cheating, given her phobia.'_

' _Right. Also, your telepathy is more undetectable than mine, so do me a favour and send a message to Misty? She looks sick.'_

' _Right. Hold on.'_ Across the watery field, Misty was starting to panic.

 _What if I fail? I need to show my sisters that I'm not weak, but if I lose then it'll just prove their point. And it might end up with the League closing the gym or replacing us because we can't battle very well._ Mia's small message, her telepathy being practically indistinguishable from Misty's thoughts, stopped her worried rant.

' _Don't panic. If you do, you'll just lose faster. Anyway, it's just a battle. There's no added pressure. Just do your best, then you'll be fine.'_ She took a steadying breath.

"Alright. Staryu, Starmie, let's go!"

"Sarie, battle time!"

"Arch, you're up!"

' _ **Right!'**_ The larger of the Flying types cawed confidently.

' _ **I'll do my best not to let you down.'**_ Sarie was much more timid than her partner, but still held herself confidently, if shyly. Then she blinked, confused. ' _ **Why're we fighting Misty?'**_

' _ **Don't worry, but basically a battle to show the League this gym doesn't completely suck.'**_ Bolt told her quickly.

' _ **Right.'**_

"Starmie, Bubblebeam! Staryu, Swift!" Misty decided to start things off.

"Arch, block what you can with Whirlwind!"

"Sarie, Vacuum Wave!" A wall of air burst out as the large bird landed on one of the floating platforms and used Whirlwind, pushing the platform to the wall, but also stopping the majority of the bubbles and stars from hitting him or his teammate. Meanwhile, Sarie swung her blades quickly, sending two sharp waves towards each of the star Pokemon on the other side of the field. Starmie managed to react quickly enough to stop the attack it was firing and drop into the water to hide, but Staryu wasn't as lucky and got hit by the other, which knocked it into the pool as well.

' _ **Well shoot.'**_ Arch said, taking a tentative look over the edge. ' _ **How're we dealing with this then, Mia?'**_

"Arch, Gust on the water!" Mia responded quickly, glancing rapidly around under the water.

"Sarie, take a second to do an Agility or two. I'll give a warning if they get near." Ash told his Pokemon, already searching the rougher waters for the duo.

' _ **Alright.'**_ She did as instructed, carefully keeping her balance on the rocking float.

"Guys, use Rapid Spin to get them!" Misty told them.

"Ash, can Sarie fly?" Mia asked, slightly distracted by her own search.

"I think so."

' _ **It's more hovering.'**_ She admitted, nodding as they glanced at her.

"Right. Arch, other side of the field and up the Gust. Sarie, when I say so, jump and hover into Quick Attack." Each Pokemon took a second to parse the instructions, then nodded an affirmative. The waters slowly got worse, but a minute flash of something in the water told both of the Mew exactly what they needed. "Now!" Sarie jumped off of her platform and caught a weaker part at the edge of the Gust, using it to keep in the air for a little while longer. As she did so, the platform was sent flying sidewards, and Starmie jumped up in a Rapid Spin. Seeing what the trainer had meant, Sarie used the edge of the winds to get a grip for Quick Attack, which knocked the Starmie back into the pool much faster than it had come up. Arch carefully picked up his teammate, leaving the winds for the moment, and deposited her on a platform before she fell.

' _ **Thank you.'**_ She smiled.

' _ **No problem.'**_ He replied, taking off again to return to the air. ' _ **I don't think that'll keep working, though. What's next?'**_

"Sarie, jump to the next float and use Vacuum Wave!" Ash suddenly barked, causing the timid bug to squeak before jumping, firing a Vacuum Wave straight below her. A startled sound told her that she'd hit something, but which of the two she couldn't tell. She hoped it was the Staryu, since she knew that Starmie resisted Fighting type attacks, but without one of the trainers looking around in that sight they had, she wouldn't know.

' _ **Think our trainers are using that sight thingy to find them?'**_ She asked as she landed.

' _ **Nah, that'd be cheating. Besides, Crimson mentioned that Mia just kinda knew what was going on during that battle in the smoke, so maybe she's just good.'**_ Arch reasoned.

"Arch, up then drop with Quick Attack!" The bird startled upwards, dodging Staryu's Rapid Spin by an inch, then dove to knock the other down. Unfortunately, this put him right into the path of a Hydro Pump, courtesy of the jumping Starmie, which clipped his left wing as he rose away from the water, before going on to knock Sarie off her platform all together.

' _ **Sarie!'**_ He shouted.

"Don't! Quick Attack before it's gone!" Turning and flipping his wing to clear some of the water from the feathers, he shot towards Starmie, hitting it on the topmost point before it was fully submerged.

"Sarie, calm down and Pursuit!" A thud echoed, before the gasping bug returned to the surface.

' _ **That thing was evil!'**_ She declared, as Arch pushed a float over for her to stand on. ' _ **Tried to keep me from getting up here.'**_

' _ **Right.'**_ Arch's face was set, even while he created a gentle breeze to dry her off slightly so she could use her wings again. ' _ **If you can manage a Pursuit again, get the Starmie. It's weak to it. I'm hunting that Staryu down.'**_

"Arch!" Mia shouted frantically, and the bird twisted to see a Psywave from Staryu coming for him. For a second, he went to dodge, but decided to hold his ground. Sarie was worse off than him, so he might as well take the hit. Instead, he started another Gust, moving the float backwards while hitting Staryu back. It slipped down the side to the arena, and wobbled for a moment before falling over, fainted.

"Staryu, return." Misty winced. "Starmie, Swift!" Both Pokemon winced, then started dodging the stars. Sarie noticed a white glow around Starmie, and her eyes narrowed.

' _ **Oh no you don't.'**_ Jumping from their current platform to a nearby one, she hopped rapidly across several of them, drawing on the speed she'd gained from her earlier Agility to get close in as fast as she could. A black outline flashed into being on her blades, and she slashed at the Water and Psychic type from behind as it attempted to Recover away the damage they'd already dealt.

"Was that Pursuit?" Ash asked Mia, glancing towards her as Sarie retreated.

"Most likely." She replied, watching the water for any signs on the now half recovered Starmie. "It was fast enough for it. Keep an eye on Arch too, ok? I'll watch for Starmie."

"Sounds like a plan." For about a minute, nothing really happened. The water stayed mostly calm, save from minute ripples from the floats dotted around and Arch's flying pattern.

"Starmie, hard left and Hydro Pump!"

"Arch, upwards now!" Both trainers gave the command in the same instant, and the bird rose rapidly as instructed. Unfortunately for them all, this was exactly what Misty had predicted, and Arch rose directly into the path of the Hydro Pump at the jumps peak, sending him diving into the water.

"Sarie, go!" Ash quickly improvised, ordering his Pokemon to head for Starmie as soon as she could, in order to avoid letting it drop back into the water to take advantage of the downed bird.

"Arch, calm down!" Mia moved back to her own Pokemon, trying to work around the fact that the bird was now stuck in the water, due to the inability to fly from his waterlogged feathers. "Try and use your wings to swim!" The statement had all present looking at Mia like she'd grown a second head.

"What." Ash said, confused.

"You heard me, 'cousin'." She replied, a little sharply. "But seriously, it can't be _that_ much more difficult than flying." ' _It actually isn't.'_ She broadcast telepathically to their Pokemon and Ash. ' _I've tried. Just remember that you weigh a little more in the water because of your feathers, but you push the water the same way as air.'_

' _Good to know.'_ Ash returned. "Sarie, how's things?" The Scyther had landed on another platform, and was watching carefully for any sign of Starmie attempting to take advantage of the situation.

' _ **Fine. I'm good to keep fighting.'**_ She told them. Suddenly, she slashed forwards, sending a Vacuum Wave splashing into the water. A slightly muffled yelp followed, and Starmie backed off of an attack run.

"Good shot. I missed that one." Mia admitted. A slightly drenched bird popped up from the water, and Arch slowly pushed himself over to the nearest float, trying not to push it away.

' _ **Are you ok?'**_ Sarie asked him, hovering over the water close by.

' _ **I'll be fine. Not going to be able to fly for a bit, unfortunately. I'm completely grounded.'**_ He replied, raising a wing and frowning in distaste. ' _ **I might not be much use now, though.'**_

' _ **That's alright. I'll try and cover you while you try and get your feathers back into shape.'**_ To punctuate her statement, she jinked left and swept her arm again, hitting Starmie with another Vacuum Wave before dodging around the hastily-fired Psywave with a slightly messy Quick Attack, which betrayed her tiredness.

' _ **Alright.'**_ Staring at the unusual confidence his friend was displaying, he shook himself and got to work on trying to clean up his left wing. Sarie twisted, watching over the water for any sign of the starfish and trusting the two trainers to do the same.

"Left!" Sarie swept over, assuming Ash meant that it was coming from the left, dropping backwards to dodge any possible attack while moving. She ended up in front of it, and the gem blinked before throwing out a Psywave. She squeaked, fluttering backwards as quickly as she could before she could be hit, then fired out another Vacuum Wave set in quick succession in an attempt to break the Psychic type attack. "Sarie, Quick Attack around!" She blinked, flickering left to try and dodge around the edge of the attack. "Pursuit!" The Dark typed energy tore through the Psychic attack and smashed her into Starmie. The purple starfish crashed back into the water, then floated back up, unconscious. Everyone was quiet for a moment, that whole encounter having taken a little less than ten seconds.

"Starmie, return." Misty smiled brightly at the pair of them. "That was ridiculous! How did you manage that?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure." Ash admitted, as Sarie fluttered back to the platform with Arch, who flapped his wings slightly to push them over to the side.

' _ **Are you alright Sarie?'**_ He asked her.

' _ **Yeah, I'm fine.'**_ She blushed, suddenly going back to her shy self. ' _ **What about you? You still look pretty drenched.'**_

' _ **I'll be fine. It's nothing a bit of a flame won't fix.'**_ Both Pokemon hopped off the float, while the two trainers moved back onto safer ground.

"Crimson?" Mia asked, releasing her starter.

' _ **Yes?'**_ She replied, backing away from the dripping bird and giggling. ' _ **What happened to you, Arch?'**_

' _ **Evil starfish knocked me into the water.'**_ He grumbled. ' _ **Do you mind…?'**_

' _ **Not at all.'**_ She spun a small Ember on her tail, making its flame brighter, and held it nearer to her teammate.

"Are you alright, Sarie?"

' _ **Perfectly. I'll take a rest, if you don't mind.'**_

"Right. Return, then." Misty walked over to the both of them.

"Well done, both of you. That was some extremely well coordinated teamwork between you. Whether or not my showing was good enough, you've still earned the Cascade Badge."

"That's not fair!" The pink haired girl stated. "If she wasn't good enough, then that badge means nothing, so she can't give it out!"

"Actually, she can." The League official stepped forwards. "Even if that show wasn't enough to persuade me that this gym should remain open, due to the fact that I haven't yet passed my decision, it will still count as an official League badge even if the gym closes after this battle."

"What did you think, ma'am?" Misty asked her, nervous.

"Well, if the gym is to be left in your sister's care, then it's going to need to be closed." She informed them. "These three have no sense of responsibility beyond their water shows, and cannot be trusted to even care for the Pokemon correctly, let alone run a gym with them." Misty hung her head at the finality of the statement. "However, if you were to return to run the gym, I firmly believe that this gym would be able to continue." All four of the Waterflower girls blinked, and the official smiled. "You're very skilled, much more so than you were when you did the test. I'd say that even the few months of travelling has been very helpful for you, and I'd love to see how good you might get. So, my proposal is this. I will organise for the League to send down a replacement gym leader for the rest of this year to allow you to continue travelling with your friends for the rest of that time. I'll make sure the replacement has their own team, and they will make sure that the rest of the Pokemon here get back into shape. While you travel, I expect you to try and build another team of your own, which would likely be for higher level badge challenges."

"But, like, what about our water shows?" The blue haired one questioned.

"They won't be continuing here, that's for sure." The official said sharply. "This is a Pokemon League gym, not a showhouse. You'll need to find some other place to do them." All three of the sisters looked about ready to explode in anger, but nodded their heads resignedly and walked off. That issue dealt with, she looked back at Misty. "It will take about a week for the leader to get here. Would you mind hanging around until then to take care of any potential challengers?" As one, the entire rest of the group looked at Mia, who had taken out a notepad and was flipping between pages.

"We can spare a week." She told them, without looking up. "I tried to make sure that the schedule had enough extra time at the end to account for any possible delays I might have. I rejigged it a little when Ash and Misty joined, but it's pretty much the same. We might need to spend a little longer up and about at some point, but it'll be pretty smooth sailing either way."

"Well, I guess that's settled. We'll hang around for the week to wait for the replacement to get here, and I'll try and get some of the Pokemon started on getting back into shape while we wait."

"Good. I wish you luck with those three." She smiled, and started walking back in the direction of Mount Moon.

"Well that went better than I could have hoped." Brock smiled.

"Yeah. Now we've just got to undo all of the damage my sisters did over their time running the place." Misty sighed.

"Don't panic." Mia laughed, returning Crimson and Arch. "With the four of us to spread the load, I'm sure we can at least start to fix everything up. The replacement leader will need to take over when they get here, and getting the Pokemon back into shape might take longer than the year we've got. Maybe after we finish up the League here in Kanto, we'll hang around and make sure everything goes ok with the Pokemon."

"Thanks guys." Misty replied. "It's good to know I've got help."

"And as long as we're travelling together, you always will." Ash promised, stepping over and letting Bolt jump across. Brock went over too, but Mia lingered back for a few moments, frowning.

 _Perhaps, perhaps…_ She thought, being careful not to project herself telepathically, even more so than usual. _Perhaps indeed…_ Shaking herself, she joined the group chat, eagerly adding her own ideas to the talk.

* * *

In the distance, two figures stood close to each other. The indent of rock and the lateness of the hour made exact features impossible to see, but even then a few distinct curls of red hair caught the fading light.

"Come on, come on…" She whispered distractedly, as though she had meant to be silent. "It's close… but where?" The second figure chuckled quietly, muttering something that was almost certainly supposed to be heard by nothing but the wind, but the girl heard it anyway. "I know I must be patient, but can you blame me? They aren't back yet, there's been no sign and if I try to get information I'm ignored. If no one will help, I'll hunt them myself, with you to help me like you always have." She growled as she stepped back into the alcove, a sound that was far more animalistic than should ever be possible for a human. "We'll hunt them down together. And if anything happened to them there'll be hell to pay." Shadow's closed around them both as her partner stepped forwards and took her arm, a slight flicker of blue dancing around. A gust of wind blew past as the sun finally set, kicking up some dust and sand which obscured the alcove for the briefest of moments. When it settled and the moon rose, giving barely enough light to see by, the deepened shadows had faded, the two figures along with it.

* * *

 **AN: K: What is with you and adding mysterious characters with vague dialogue?**

 **SV: I'm not sure. I think it's because I like solving mysteries when I read, so I like making them too.**

 **P: It's not as fun when you write it though.**

 **SV: Yeah, but it's just as good reading what people think is going on.**

 **T: But Shadow, this fic already has one with the shadow monster; did it really need a second?**

 **SV: *Deadpan* Trixie. You have read the plans for my fics. Both the ones I post, and the ones that I write as fun and might upload when these start finishing. You have seen some of the stuff we have planned for these current three.**

 **T: Point taken, maybe some of this is needed.**

 **P: Alright, I'm reading the plans. I'm curious about this and don't want to wait for you to finish.**

 **K: Sure. It's always funny to see your reactions.**

 **SV: Before we leave, I got a review literally minutes before writing this AN for the upload, so I'll answer the points brought up now for your peace of mind. So, Foreman88, these are the answers for the points. The Pokemon calling Ash and Mia 'boss' is a joke. Neither of the Mew like that, since they prefer to be thought of as just normal Pokemon/people, and not as leaders. The teams know this, and do it to annoy them slightly, but it's all in good fun among the group. With Mia being caught off guard by Meowth, there's a couple of things. First off, he would have tripped her perimeter field, which would set the alarm bells, except that she overestimated. I mentioned that she was a bit on edge, so she put the shield up to large to warn them. Meowth was already inside. Second, she was distracted, both trying to avoid dropping straight back to basic instinct and go hunting, and with trying to keep tabs on everyone at once. Even with several billion years under her belt, she's spent enough time out of danger that she's a little out of practise. Even if we look at the eight years she had Ash, she only had to keep an eye on him and her surroundings, which anyone can do. Add three powerless humans and three Pokemon, which she could see as children anyway, and I think it's safe to say she got a bit distracted. But you are right in what you say, and she certainly isn't careless by habit, no legendary Pokemon is. It's simply a case of too much time in a mostly low stress environment clouding her judgement slightly when too much happened at once. It isn't the first time in recent years, as we'll see later, and it won't be the last. Hopefully this answer cleared up some things for you.**

 **Now that that's out of the way, a few farewell points. The poll for the Alolan replacement will be ending with the next chapter, so get votes in for that if you want a say. Speculation on the shadow creature and this chapter's end events, both with Mia's vague statements and the two people on the mountain, is appreciated and gladly read, since we love seeing what you can think of our plans. Feel free to leave any ideas in the reviews or via PM, and we'll answer in as vague method possible to keep you guessing but hopefully answer anything that might be brought up. Leave a review, and we'll see you all another day! Bye!**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Hey guys, what's up.**

 **K: This time, we've got an onslaught of chapters that require very little battling, to give everyone a break from the two almost back-to-back gym battles that we had before.**

 **T: Which is good, because I'm getting a little battled out.**

 **P: I assume there's stuff to talk about, right?**

 **SV: Yes, but we'll save that until the end. We don't own Pokemon, so let's go!**

* * *

 **Chapter 26.**

* * *

 ***One week later.***

* * *

As promised, the group spent a week at the Cerulean City gym, helping get everything cleared up. Mia had done a lot of work with the Pokemon in the gym, helping to get them back into a somewhat decent shape to be used in battle, though the replacement leader would need to do the rest themselves. Having to do it from scratch annoyed her to no end, though, as she'd privately admitted to Ash on one of the nights where they'd escaped to a Mew Game for something to do.

' _ **It's not even like training them from scratch is bothering me that much.'**_ She'd told him, flying together underwater on their island. ' _ **It's the fact that they're having to be trained from scratch again. Those girls didn't know what they were doing, so they abandoned it to do their shows instead. And it's not like I can just drop them all into a Game to get them back up to where they should be, either. Our Pokemon could have a massive spurt of power, and we could just not use it for a while to make it look natural. I can't have that happen in a week.'**_

But now, the week was over, the replacement leader would be here in just less than an hour, and they would be moving on. The group was making a quick trip around the gym building to check that everything was fine and ready. Mia and Misty were checking over the Pokemon to make sure they were alright and ready to work with the new, unidentified trainer. Brock was wandering in and out, checking if they needed anything. Ash, however…

Ash wasn't taking part in the final preparations. He was sitting with Bolt in a room on the other side of the gym, just waiting.

' _ **Ok, can you tell me what's bothering you?'**_ Bolt finally snapped. ' _ **I wasn't going to ask about it, since I thought you'd tell me eventually, but you've just been sitting here for ten solid minutes!'**_

"It's nothing." He said quietly. "Just… I can feel something strange on the edge of my senses. It's probably nothing, and Mom would just tell me to stop worrying about it, but that doesn't change the fact that it's there."

' _ **What do you mean?'**_ Bolt cocked his head, but someone softly knocked on the door, stopping his trainer from answering.

"Ash? You in there?" Mia asked through the door.

"Yeah, I am." Psychically opening the door, he let in the Mew pretending to be his cousin without a second thought.

"Hey Bolty, run down to the others and give them a hand, ok?" She requested. "I want to talk with Ash."

' _ **Ok.'**_ He ran off down the corridor, leaving the two Mew alone.

"What do you need, Mia?"

"I need you to calm down." She said firmly. "I don't know what's up at the moment, and I'll wait for you to tell me. But whatever it is, try not to broadcast it so much. You might even end up alerting our human friends to the fact that something's wrong."

"Ok." Ash chuckled quietly. "I'll do my best."

"Thank you." The both of them stood up and headed out, looking for their friends. "Say, how good do you think this replacement leader's going to be?"

"Dunno." He shrugged. "They've gotta be pretty good, though, since the League is happy to send them to work with Pokemon they've never met."

"I guess. I'd like to think we'd do just as good a job, though."

"You, maybe. You've got billions of years of experience over anyone they could possibly send to do the job." Ash laughed. "Me, not so much."

"Give it some time. Eventually you'll be just as powerful as the rest of us, and we can work together on that. Heck, maybe when you're older, you'll be able to help me do my duties, few as they may be."

"Really?" Ash's childish excitement came back in a storm, and Mia chuckled.

"Sure, I don't see why not. Arcy wouldn't mind, he doesn't have a reason too, so I'd happily bring you along to help me."

"Thanks." The two shared a grin, before quickly wiping them away to join their friends. "How's everything going, Misty?"

"I'm almost finished with everyone in here." The leader replied. "We'll have to leave the rest of it to the trainer that coming down, but at least it's a start."

"That's good. Since it's a League trainer, hopefully they'll be able to finish fixing them up."

"Yeah." The girl stood. "Should we go and wait for them, then?"

"Alright. Let's just go find Brock and Bolt, then we'll wait around."

* * *

At the end of the hour, the group's patience was rewarded. The five of them spotted a trainer walking down the road, heading straight towards the gym. From the distance, he looked to be about twenty five, and had light blue hair. Both Ash and Mia frowned slightly, feeling like they should know this trainer from somewhere. A little blue blob bounced next to him, revealing itself to be an Azumarill when the two got closer. Misty had started fidgeting, clearly worried about what this League sanctioned trainer would think of the gym, so Mia had sent a reassuring thought to the Water trainer after a quick few seconds of conversation with her child. By the time the trainer arrived, she had calmed down a little.

"Good morning." He greeted them. "I'll assume you're Misty, correct?"

"Yes, that's me." She replied. "It's good of you to do this for me."

"It's not a problem. I've had a full explanation given to me by the official who came by last week, and I've heard how badly your sisters were managing the place, though I've also heard how good you are at the moment, so I'm happy to take over to give you the chance to get better." He assured her. "My name's Kai, by the way. This Azumarill was my starter, so she's almost always with me."

' _ **Hello!'**_ She waved.

"I'll wish you luck with the place." Misty told him. "Some of the Pokemon in there are in terrible condition thanks to my sisters, and while we've done what we can, a week isn't much time to fix the damage."

"Will your sisters be an issue?"

"I don't think so. They moved out the day after the decision was made to pass the gym over to you to let me continue travelling."

"Well, that's handy. I was thinking I might need Mew's help to get them into shape otherwise, though maybe Kyogre would be better."

"Kyogre?"

"Water type Legendary from Hoenn. She normally fights with Groudon."

"How do you know it's female?" Mia asked. The older trainer froze for a fraction of a second, just long enough that Mia's experienced mind caught it, before he replied.

"I had the honour of seeing her once, near the start of my journey. She just struck me as female, you know?"

"Yeah. I've seen something like that once. Just seemed like a male Pokemon, though whatever it was struck me as quite Childish." The inflection she put on the word caught his attention, and his eyes widened slightly before he nodded.

"Well, I suppose you all want to get a move on with your journey. Good luck with it all." Misty and Brock nodded, starting to walk off. Both Mia and Ash followed slowly, and Kai muttered under his breath as she passed. "You?"

"Ash." She replied, just as quietly.

"Who?"

"Mew and not so Mew." She said, pointing to herself and her child. Kai's eyes widened even more. "I felt like travelling with my child, so I made up a disguise. The other two don't know, but our Pokemon do."

"Right. I'd wish you luck, Lady, but I doubt you need it. Maybe we'll see you again."

"Most likely. I'll assume Kyogre for you?"

"Yeah. We kept running into each other when I was travelling, and I got transformed in the end. It's why I'm here, since the League knows me as a Water trainer."

"Hey Mia, hurry up!" Misty called.

"I'll just call a meeting at the end of the year and get all the Children and Legends together to let the rest of you get to know each other properly." Mia promised, before smiling and running after the group. Kai stood outside for a second, watching them go, before heading inside with a grin.

"That was the most unexpected thing to happen to me in the last fifteen years." He told his partner quietly.

' _ **It's the same here, don't worry.'**_ She replied. ' _ **Well, let's get started with the gym, then.'**_ Back with the group, Mia and Ash were having a private conversation.

' _So, Kyogre's Child, then?'_ Ash asked.

' _Yep. I didn't honestly know her's was that old, but I guess time really does fly.'_ Mia admitted. ' _Did you hear what I suggested?'_

' _About a meet and greet in the Hall? Sure sounds fun.'_

' _We'll wait until the end of the League. Both of us are competing, and I'd hate to miss out. Maybe I'll tell the Legends and see if they can watch from the viewing pool.'_

' _Viewing pool?'_

' _Another time kid.'_

* * *

"Where the heck are we?" Misty complained. "I don't recognise this place."

"Then we're dead lost." Mia threw her head back and sighed. "Great."

"Don't panic Mia, I'm sure I can find the way out." Brock told her. "Just give me a few minutes." Misty went and walked over to a river, and Ash followed, not really having anything better to do. A little blue Pokemon was drinking at the lake on the end, and Misty's eyes lit up.

"Oh! Look how cute it is!" The Pokemon jumped, and Ash recognised it as an Oddish.

"It's an Oddish. They're Grass Poison types." Misty absorbed that.

"I see. I know you're not as good as your cousin, but could you ask if it wants to join me? I don't want to scare it away."

"I think Bolt's beaten me to it." He nodded, showing that his starter had jumped down when Misty had first spoken, and was now talking with the Oddish.

' _ **I wouldn't mind, honestly. What other Pokemon does she have?'**_

' _ **Two Water types; Staryu and Starmie. She was a Water gym leader, but she never really got a chance to make her own team, since she started travelling after she qualified.'**_ The Oddish thought about it for a moment, then nodded.

' _ **I think I'd like to, even if her speciality's not my type.'**_

' _ **That's nice.'**_ He glanced over to them and gave a thumbs up. Misty took this as a good sign, so she went over and knelt down.

"Hey Oddish, I'm Misty. I'm not sure what Bolt told you, but I'm a Water trainer-"

' _ **He did say, yes.'**_ She nodded, interrupting her. ' _ **And I'd be glad to be a team member.'**_ Ash went to translate, but the redhead had gotten the gist.

"Thanks." Misty held out a Pokeball, letting Oddish tap the center with her leaves. The capture was complete a few moments later, and Misty released her new team member. "We're a little lost at the moment, so we've got some time to talk. Starmie, Staryu, come out and meet our friend." She swapped Pokeballs and released her other Pokemon, and Oddish waved at them. The three started a conversation, one that Bolt was quickly invited to join, and the two trainers left them to talk.

"Say, can your Starmie use telepathy?" Ash asked.

"I don't think so." Misty admitted. "It'd be nice to know that it could, but I think it would have used it before now if it could."

"Hey Mia!" Ash called to his 'cousin'. "Any idea how to teach a Pokemon to use telepathy?"

"Not really!" She called back. "Try pushing thoughts towards the other person and see if they hear it!"

' _Do you actually not know?'_

' _Seriously. The others had the knowledge of how to do it instantly, and so did I. You picked it up from me, so I've never really had to teach someone.'_

"Well, if Starmie wants to try it later, we can." Misty decided. "It might be useful."

' _ **Hey!'**_ A shout came from the bushes. ' _ **Oddish! Where are you?!'**_

' _ **Oh! That's my friend, Bulbasaur.'**_ Oddish told the little group, before raising her voice. ' _ **Bulbasaur! I'm over here!'**_

' _ **Finally.'**_ The Grass type starter ran through the bushes, still talking loudly to his friend. ' _ **Come on, we should be heading back, Melanie will be… worried?'**_ He finished making his way through the bush, only to halt mid step and take in the sight of the four trainers, plus three other Pokemon. ' _ **Ummm… what?'**_

' _ **Bulbasaur, I've found a trainer!'**_ She said cheerfully, hopping over to her friend. ' _ **It's the red haired one. The Staryu and Starmie are hers, and she's a Water type trainer who's qualified to be a gym leader!'**_

' _ **That's… great.'**_ He replied awkwardly. ' _ **We should go and tell Melanie then. She might get worried if you just vanished for no apparent reason.'**_

' _ **Alright. But all of the others need to come too!'**_ Oddish smiled. ' _ **They're my new team now, so they need to come and meet Melanie!'**_ She looked back at the group, who were already prepared to follow them, Bolt having faked an explanation while they were talking.

' _ **Fine. I just hope they won't try to capture anyone if they don't want to join.'**_

"Don't worry Bulbasaur, we won't." Ash promised, stepping forwards.

' _ **You understand us?'**_ Bulbasaur asked, stepping back as he did.

"Sort of." Ash paused. "Mia does it better, but we can both figure out what Pokemon mean, even if not the actual words."

' _ **Liar!'**_ Bolt coughed out quickly, then proceeded to innocently meet the Grass types confused gazes with an awkward smile.

' _ **...Right.'**_ Bulbasaur said, after a moment of silence. ' _ **Well, I'll take them all over there to meet Melanie, I suppose. Follow me.'**_ He walked off, Oddish hopping along cheerfully behind and the rest of them following after. Misty quickly returned her Water types for the trek, since they would tire easier on land than they would in water. Mia shot Bolt an angry glare, looking over at him from Ash's right.

' _Don't go doing that.'_ She snapped. ' _You never know who's listening, and you never know who understands.'_

' _ **Right, sorry.'**_ He whispered, dropping his gaze to the ground awkwardly. ' _ **I… I really don't have an excuse.'**_

' _Damn right you don't.'_

' _Mom, please stop now.'_ Ash sighed. ' _Let's just go meet this Melanie person, promise to look after Oddish well, then get moving again.'_

' _Actually…'_ Mia looked contemplative, still carefully following the Pokemon in front of them. ' _We might be meeting another Child.'_

' _Really?'_

' _Well, I remember one of them was called Melanie, though I don't know how old she is now.'_

' _Jeez, two in one day? What're the odds?'_

' _Pretty low. They tend to stick with their Meema's, or actual human parents if they still have them, and that normally means staying in the region the Legendary stops in. I'm actually the only Kanto Legendary, and we tend to roam.'_

' _Wait, but aren't the Birds...?'_

' _They're Kanto, but live in the Orange Islands. There's also ones in Johto, but neither of them have Children. They're not the only ones either; the Beasts don't, nor the Lake Trio. I don't think any of the Golems do… but that might be it.'_

' _Huh. There's something I didn't know.'_

' _ **Oddish, do you mind running ahead to tell Melanie?'**_ Bulbasaur asked, drawing the duo from their conversation. ' _ **This is about you, after all.'**_

' _ **Sure. Don't be too long though, or Melanie will be getting worried about you instead.'**_ Oddish laughed, sprinting through the bushes up ahead. Bulbasaur glanced back at the five of them and frowned, speaking carefully.

' _ **I know you said before, but please promise me that you won't capture any of the Pokemon here.'**_ He pleaded. ' _ **Some of them are quite sick or injured, and more haven't had the best time with trainers.'**_ Two humans and a hybrid looked at a Mew, who passed the jist of the message along.

"We won't." Ash assured him. "We promise. If someone wants to come with us, we'll let them, but otherwise we promise not to catch anyone here." Bulbasaur scanned their faces for a moment, as if searching for a sign of dishonesty, but eventually nodded and relaxed slightly.

' _ **Thank you for being sincere. Too many trainers have tried to betray Melanie's trust after coming here with false promises. Come on, they're just over here.'**_ The small group stepped through the same bushes Oddish had passed through moments before, and into a large clearing. In one corner of the clearing was a building, just big enough for two people, and opposite that was a lake. Pokemon of all kinds were scattered around the area, with birds sitting in nests on the trees at the edge, Grass types near a patch of bushes that took up most of one side, and a few Rock and Ground types near a rocky patch. Other types of Pokemon were wandering between the areas, and some were talking with the Water types in the lake. Among the Pokemon near the lake was Oddish, talking to a girl, about twenty, who was crouched nearby.

' _Wow.'_ Ash commented, looking around as they followed Bulbasaur over. ' _It looks like the Children's segment of the Hall!'_

' _Well, if we're meeting another Child, then she looks old enough to have been to the Hall a few times, so maybe she got inspiration for this place from there.'_ Mia reasoned. ' _We can try and drop a few hints about you and me, but if she doesn't get them then that's that.'_

' _ **...And here they are now!'**_ Oddish seemed to be finishing an excited rant, leaving Melanie looking amused. ' _ **Thanks for helping me bring them over here Bulbasaur!'**_

' _ **No problem Oddish.'**_ He waved at Melanie. ' _ **I'll leave you to talking.'**_ The other Grass-Poison type quickly made himself scarce, heading over to the other side of the lake to sit on his own.

' _ **What was that about?'**_ Bolt asked, to carefully hidden shrugs from Mia and Ash.

"Sorry about him." Melanie said. "He's a little nervous around… well, most new people in general, but mainly trainers."

"Did he have a bad experience before?" Ash asked.

"I don't know. I've never gotten him to say anything about it, so maybe."

"Poor thing." Mia replied sympathetically. "He looks like he's just a Child; who would do something so bad to a Child?" As with Kai before, the inflection on the word child caught Melanie's attention, and her eyes widened as well. Ash and Mia shared a private high five telepathically, since they'd been hoping for that sort of reaction to confirm whether or not they were talking to a hybrid. ' _I think we've just found ourselves a method for figuring out suspected hybrids.'_

' _I still think you should know who they all are.'_ Before Mia could snap at her Child, Melanie chose to reply, halting their mental conversation.

"He is quite young, though I'm not sure I'd call him a Child, though for your information quite a lot of people." Seemingly taking the cue from Mia, Melanie implied the same inflection to the word, and got two minor nods in return, signalling that they picked up on it. For a fraction of a second, she grinned, probably glad to see a fellow Child, but she crushed it down to continue with her sentence. "Although, there's quite a lot that I don't know about the Pokemon that stay here."

"They aren't yours?" Misty asked in a surprised tone. Melanie shook her head.

"No, I just find them in the wild and take care of them if they're sick or injured, then let them leave when they're all better again. I think a couple of them have had really bad trainers, since they seemed so wary of humans when I first got them, but a few calming words and I've managed to get them to trust me."

"Really?" Brock seemed just as surprised as Misty had been.

"Yeah, I've always been good with Pokemon. In fact-" Melanie's sentence was interrupted by a small yell at her feet.

' _ **Hey! We've supposed to be talking about me travelling with Misty, not your life story!'**_ She shouted. Melanie laughed.

"I know, I know. But honestly, there's nothing to really sort out. You're not my Pokemon, you're wild, so she can catch you at any time, so long as she takes care of you."

"I will."

' _ **Anyway, she already caught me. We were just coming to make sure you knew.'**_ Oddish said nonchalantly. Melanie looked down at the smaller Pokemon, startled, then laughed and shook her head.

"I should've known. You never were one to do things by halves. At least you did come and tell me." While Melanie started talking with Misty and Brock, Mia noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Closing them momentarily to swap to a Psych Scan, she confirmed what she'd seen, and lazily drifted over to the side.

"Hello Meloetta." She whispered to the air, hiding her face with the shoulder length pink hair of her disguise. The air to her right shifted, as though something was there, and she grinned. "No need to hide. I'd already spotted you." Absolutely nothing happened, and after a few seconds, 'Mia' gave a breathy laugh. "Seriously Minette, I didn't realise you'd become so cautious over the years. You could at least reply." At this point, she started walking again, heading to the treeline.

' _How did you know my name?'_ The telepathic voice of her friend, shaken slightly with carefully concealed worry, questioned.

"Weren't you listening when we spoke with Melanie?" She paused, then shook her head. "No, you would have been further away to hide from the humans, so you missed the hint we gave about Children."

' _So you are one? Who is your parent?'_ Minette's tone of voice relaxed, clearly slightly calmer in the presence of a Child of one of her friends.

"Nah, it's Ash who's the Child." 'Mia' finally passed through the treeline enough to hide herself, and took a moment to check that her friend was there too, before dropping her Transform. ' _ **It's me!'**_

' _ **Mew?'**_ Minette said excitedly.

' _ **Yep!'**_ She smiled, as her friend went visible and floated down to her level. ' _ **Long time no see Min! How's things?'**_

' _ **Great, thank you. I've been managing to balance my time between my 'job' in Unova and spending time with my Child here in Kanto.'**_ The Meloetta replied, settling onto a branch. Mew followed her up, picking a higher branch and hanging from it with her tail. ' _ **How've you been?'**_

' _ **Pretty good. I officially made Ash my Child, and we spent a week travelling to see some of our friends. I went to visit you, but you weren't around.'**_

' _ **I've spent the last two months here with Mel.'**_ Minette admitted. ' _ **If I'd have known where you were, I'd have sent a message across.'**_

' _ **I was living in Pallet Town with Ashy. I never told any of the others because I didn't want to risk you being found out since only the hybrids can hide properly.'**_ Mew took on a thoughtful expression, one that was quite out of place on the normally playful cat's face. ' _ **Well, Ilex knows, but that's because we literally ran into her and Celeste in the woods near Pallet and invited them over for a while.'**_

' _ **Well, now I know.'**_ She laughed, poking her friend in the side. ' _ **So, who's the human form?'**_ Mew dropped out of the tree, flipping as she did, and Transforming back when she hit the ground.

"Mia Mauller, a new trainer from the Faraway Isles. I started travelling about two weeks ago, and made this form up to stay with Ash. As far as anyone else is concerned, I'm his cousin."

' _ **Fair enough.'**_ Minette levitated out of her seat and turned invisible. ' _ **I'll let Mel know that you can stay, and tell her who you two are.'**_

"The humans don't know." Mia told her quickly, the two leaving the forest and heading back to the group.

' _Ok. I'll warn her.'_ Minette's invisible form hovered over to her Child, while Mia joined her own in talking to the Water types in the pool.

"Who is it?" Ash asked quietly, barely sparing his 'cousin' a glance.

"Meloetta. Her name's Minette. I would have had you meet her before, but she's been here for the last few months and I didn't know."

"Right. Nice to meet a few more." The hybrid looked around, noting where everyone else was. "So, what do you think about this place?"

"It's amazing. Now we know who Melanie is, we know for sure that she based it off the Hall rooms, but being able to make all this without a creation power of some kind is brilliant."

"I think so too." Any more of that conversation was cut off by Bulbasaur.

' _ **What do you mean, who Melanie is?'**_ He asked suspiciously. Ash flinched, while Mia glanced up to look at who was around, weighing the benefits of just dropping her Transform momentarily to show Bulbasaur that they weren't a threat.

"Bulbasaur, calm down. They're friends." Melanie told him, coming over.

' _ **Sure?'**_ The little Pokemon was quite cautious, inclining his head to the elder girl.

"Ash is like me, and Mia's a parent." She replied. Bulbasaur's eyes widened, and he nodded.

' _ **I apologise for my rudeness, then.'**_ He nodded respectfully to the pair, then left the three not humans to their talk.

"Sorry about him. Every Pokemon in here knows, though none of them would ever say anything, but Bulbasaur tends to get nervous when people come around, like he thinks someone's going to let it slip."

"That's alright." Mia assured her. "He has a good reason to."

"Memma told me you two were travelling." Melanie sat down next to them. "Meet any other Children yet?"

"Kyogre." Ash answered. "His name's Kai, and he's taking over Cerulean gym while Misty travels with us."

"Huh. I've never met him before. Me and Meema will need to go and introduce ourselves." She decided. "I guess he'll be here for the rest of the year?"

"Until the League's over." Mia confirmed. "Although, I was thinking of organising a bit of a party after the League, when Jasmine's awake, to let everyone meet each other so we can all recognise the rest of the Children."

' _That's a good idea.'_ Minette told them. ' _I'll tell the others when I head back to Unova.'_

"Thanks." Mia smiled at her friend. Bolt, who had been sitting at the side watching the conversation, froze, ears twitching.

' _ **Ash?'**_ He called. ' _ **We might have an incoming problem.'**_

"What sort?" He asked, concerned.

"Prepare for trouble!" As one, Misty, Brock, Bolt, Mia and Ash all facepalmed when a flying stadium with a hose arrived.

"Oh. The stupid sort. Good. I'm glad." Bolt leapt into position, Crimson was released and followed him a moment later, and Onix and Starmie joined them.

"Brock, have Onix protect the house. Melanie, get yourself and all the Pokemon inside." Mia ordered. "Arch, Dart, join in."

"You too Sarie, Flutter." The four Pokemon were released as well, and started helping the Meloetta hybrid in getting the Pokemon to safety.

"Meowth, that's right!" The trio in the air finished their motto, only to realise seconds later that no one had been paying any attention.

"Hey! You could at least pay attention, you know!" Jessie yelled. "That motto took a long time to think of!"

"Eh, they probably can't comprehend how doomed they are from it." James reasoned. "Maybe we need to simplify it for them."

"Why bother? Meowth, hit the hose!"

"Some flying Pokemon coming up!" The cat Pokemon hit a lever, and the hose attached to the stadium began blowing out air. "Hehe… oops." Another flick, and it started sucking instead, pulling at the Pokemon and people around. Melanie used a small Psychic to push the rest of the Pokemon inside, and a small purple flash told Mia that Minette was safe as well.

"Onix, use Rock Throw!" A large rock went flying at Brock's command, and was caught in the air flow for a few seconds, before dropping out of the sky.

"Hydro Pump!" The Water attack pushed the rock back up, causing it to knock into the hose. Unfortunately, it went towards the house, and Bulbasaur, who had been with the rest of the group protecting it, was sucked up. Onix lunged, but was too slow to grab him, and he went spiralling.

"Arch!" The predator bird took off in a flash, blurring slightly as he used Quick Attack. He was also caught in the air flow, but grabbed Bulbasaur with his claws. "Whirlwind!"

' _ **Mia, can we use strategies that make sense, please?'**_ He sighed.

"Just do it!" He used the attack, which to his surprise helped counter the gale, giving him time to drop down and out of the way. He blinked.

' _ **Ok, nevermind. That did make sense.'**_

"Thank you. Now get out of the way." Both Pokemon headed back to the house, while the two starters, guessing what their trainers were about to say, stepped forwards. "Misty?" Starmie stepped forwards as well.

"Starmie, Hydro Pump!"

"Flare Shock!" The three attacks flew together, hitting the hose dead on. A few sparks flew off and hit the engine, which also began sparking.

"Uh oh." Meowth said, backing away. Both of the other Rockets glared at him, and Jessie seemed ready to start yelling at him before the machine exploded.

"Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Everyone involved ignored the small sparkle that followed, and the Pokemon all started to drop their defensive stances.

"Thank you for the help." Melanie stated, coming out from the house with a stream of Pokemon behind her.

"It's not a problem. Those three have been following us around for a while, and they haven't been a threat any of those times." Mia replied, recalling Arch and Dart with a telepathic word of thanks. Beside her, Ash did the same, and her human friends recalled their own Pokemon.

"But still, you protected the Pokemon here from them." Next to her, Bulbasaur was fidgeting, and she looked down. "What's wrong?"

' _ **Is it ok if I go with them?'**_ He blurted out. All three of the 'humans' who understood him blinked, caught off guard, and he hurried on. ' _ **With the girl, I mean. I like them, and I'd like to travel with another Child like you.'**_

"Of course you can, Bulbasaur. Like I said to Oddish, you're all wild Pokemon, so there's nothing stopping you from going with a trainer if you want to." Melanie smiled. "I'm sure you've picked a great trainer in Mia." Mia nodded, holding out a Pokeball for the other Pokemon to tap. He was released again almost immediately, and Crimson patted him on the back.

' _ **Welcome to the team. Expect things to be very hectic.'**_ She announced, making them all laugh. Brock and Misty joined in, once they'd had the sentence translated. ' _ **Mia'll think of a nickname for you as we go, then you'll be a proper member of the team.'**_

' _ **Then you'll have a training session and rethink your decision.'**_ Bolt muttered with a wince.

' _ **That bad?'**_

' _ **No. Just don't annoy her.'**_ Crimson advised.

"I'll be sure to watch your League battles." Melanie promised.

"Thank you." Ash smiled.

"Now, let's get moving. There's a gym waiting."

"Maybe this time Brock won't get us lost." Misty grumbled.

"Hey!" As the group of seven left, laughing, Melanie turned to the air and smiled.

"So, Meema, there's another Child over in Cerulean." She said, as Minette made herself visible again.

' _ **And maybe a reunion at the end of the year, too.'**_ She continued. ' _ **It's been ages since I've seen Jasmine, and I'd like to introduce her to you.'**_

"Well for now, we should go and introduce ourselves to our new friend then, right?"

' _ **I'll come too. I might as well.'**_

* * *

Further along the road, a blue haired boy was walking towards a Pokemon Centre.

"Stupid Pokemon doesn't do a thing. What was I thinking, catching it. Stupid, useless Pokemon…" His muttering faded to an inaudible jumble of words, before he sighed. "At least the dumb thing's gone now."

* * *

 **AN: Let it never be said that I can't make filler chapters fun.**

 **K: *Glancing at the first five chapters.* Right. Definitely.**

 **SV: Anyway, we all know what chapter's coming up next. I'll be ending the poll for the Alolan Pokemon replacement in about a week, so if you haven't voted do so now. You'll be able to see which Pokemon's in the lead as well.**

 **P: Now, if you're wondering where we've been, we lost internet access for two days, and we write on google docs, which needs internet.**

 **T: Apologies for that, but it was out of our control. Now, the thing you've been mentioning across all the fics.**

 **SV: In most of these chapters that I write, there's little things that seem inconsequential, but are more important than you'd think. The ones in this fic are much more prominent than the others, but they're there all the same, on a list so I remember the plot threads. Have fun decrypting them, I like mysteries and I like seeing what other people think is happening during those little plot threads that I've made.**

 **K: This chapter's pretty much devoid of any of those, since we all know what's coming next at this point, so it's pretty much only a mystery because no one knows what the Pokemon is yet. Not even us.**

 **SV: Staying on the topic of this chapter, we need a nickname for Bulbasaur, so leave those in a review if you have a suggestion, and I'll pick one out for next time.**

 **T: Also, Ki's corrupted her into having a Naruto obsession, so future delays may be due to that. Or bad internet, one of the two.**

 **SV: Right, you two be quiet. Don't forget to vote, profile is now up to date, go read our other fics if you haven't, and we'll see you all next month!**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Hey there everyone!**

 **P: So… what was the poll result?**

 **K: You'll be seeing that in this chapter.**

 **T: I'm sure that everyone would rather get onto that then, so these two don't own Pokemon, let's rock!**

* * *

 **Chapter 27.**

* * *

The ever-expanding group of trainers and Pokemon were currently walking down a road, just to the left of the massive forest they had came out of a few hours before. Bolt was walking alongside the group, talking with Crimson again about things that used to happen in his old group. The still currently unnamed Bulbasaur sat in Mia's arms, looking interestedly at the both of them. Oddish was sitting in Misty's arms as well, getting used to having a trainer. Mia and Ash were talking telepathically, trying to come up with a good name for Bulbasaur.

' _Sol?'_

' _Good, but feels more like a Fire type name to me. What about Kusa?'_

' _Sounds girly. Firudo?'_

' _Again, Fire like.'_ Mia stared off into the trees for a moment, frowning. ' _What about Fushin?'_

' _Sounds pretty cool, actually. We'll need to see what Bulbasaur thinks, but I like the name.'_

' _So do I. I'll check with him though.'_ Mia looked down at the starter in her arms. "Hey Bulbasaur?" He looked back at her.

' _ **Yes Mia?'**_ He cocked his head. ' _ **What's up?'**_

"How do you like the name Fushin? I thought it sounded cool."

' _ **Fushin…'**_ He repeated it a few times, thinking. He nodded. ' _ **Yeah, I like it.'**_

"You do?" Fushin nodded again, and her smile lit up. "Great! Now I think you're officially a team member."

' _ **And like I said earlier, you'll then have a team training session and regret that decision to join us.'**_ Bolt muttered again, breaking away from his conversation for a moment.

' _ **They aren't that bad, Bolty.'**_ Crimson reprimanded, tapping him with her tail. ' _ **They're certainly helpful, at least.'**_

"Ash!" Misty shouted, turning around to them. She was much further ahead than the rest of the group, having run ahead slightly to the top of a nearby hill to take a look around at everything. Oddish was looking over her shoulder at something, having leapt from her arms to take a position much like Bolt did when walking with Ash. "There's something over here!"

"There is?" He questioned, jogging over. "What is it?"

"I don't know." She pointed towards a rock. "But I think it might be a Pokemon. I saw it crawl onto that rock there, coming out of those bushes," She pointed to the forest on their left, tracing the path the Pokemon had walked. "And it hasn't done anything since."

"Huh. Did you see what it looked like?"

"A bit. It was walking pretty slowly, but I didn't really pay attention to it." She admitted. "It was white, walked on four legs, and had a little puffy tail that looked kind of like a cloud."

"I don't know any Pokemon like that, at least not off the top of my head." He told her. "Mia?"

"Nothing comes to mind." She shook her head. "What about you, Brock?"

"I don't know either." The Rock type user added. "Should we go and take a look?"

"Sure." Holding out an arm for Bolt to jump to, Ash led the way over, telepathically conversing with his 'cousin'. ' _You really don't know?'_

' _Seriously. I've created a little under eight hundred Pokemon, including Legendaries, so you can't expect me to remember_ all _of them.'_

' _Actually, I kind of can.'_ He countered. ' _It's kind of your job, I'm pretty sure.'_

' _Look, just shut up and go find out what it is, ok?'_ Mia replied, flustered. Bolt started subtly sniffing at the air.

' _ **It smells sort of cold, like ice.'**_ He noted, tilting his head in confusion.

"Ice?" Ash raised an eyebrow. "There aren't all that many Ice types in Kanto, and none of them fit the description."

"Yeah. There's Dewgong, which is part Water so that's not it, Jynx, which looks human-like and doesn't fit a single bit of the description Misty gave, and Articuno, which I seriously doubt we're looking at." Mia listed.

"So either the Pokemon's from another region, or it's one that no one's ever found before." Brock observed.

"Might as well find out." Ash circled around the rock, seeing the Pokemon Misty had mentioned curled up on the other side. The Pokemon was quadrupled, like she'd said, and had a little cloud-like patch of fur on it's head. It had blue eyes, and blue fur on the inside of it's ears as well. Other than that, it was a purely snow white, the entire coat being the same colour. ' _Still don't recognise it?'_

' _Not off the top of my head. Give it a few minutes.'_ Mia scowled slightly, a movement that both of their team mates thankfully missed.

' _ **Hello there.'**_ Bolt greeted quietly, jumping down. The little white Pokemon jumped, shuffling away.

"Hey, there's no need to worry." Ash soothed. "We're not going to hurt you, I promise."

' _ **Who're you?'**_ It asked, in a feminine voice.

"My name's Ash, and this is my partner, Bolt. I'm a Pokemon trainer." He told her, after a moment to fake translate to himself.

' _ **It's nice to meet you.'**_ She said shyly. Behind the group, Mia gave up trying to puzzle out what the Pokemon was from knowledge, and took out the barely used Pokedex she'd been given by the Professor.

"Vulpix, Fox Pokemon. This Pokemon can exhale air colder than -58 degrees fahrenheit. Elderly people in Alola call this Pokemon by an older name- Keokeo. This Vulpix is female. Note: This Pokemon is in it's Alolan Form."

"Alolan Form?" Misty asked. "What's that?"

"I've never heard of it." Brock replied, glancing at both other trainers, who shook their heads.

"I feel like I should know what it means, but I can't think of it." Mia admitted, frowning. "Maybe we should call Professor Oak about it."

"That might work. He'd probably know." Ash nodded. "Say, do you have a trainer?"

' _ **Yes, but he's not here at the moment.'**_ She revealed. ' _ **He needed to go and get something from town, and needed my to stay here and look after something for him.'**_

' _ **And you're ok with that?'**_ Crimson asked, incredulous.

' _ **Of course! It's an honour for him to have me look after something important.'**_ She smiled. ' _ **He doesn't let us do many things, because we're not strong enough, so leaving me here alone shows that he thinks I'm strong and can handle myself! He's a great trainer.'**_

' _I smell lies.'_ Mia growled.

' _Nothing we can really do even so.'_ Ash noted sadly. "I suppose we should leave you alone, then. If your trainer came back now, he might get the wrong idea and think we're trying to steal you."

' _ **I don't think you'd do that.'**_ She commented. ' _ **You seem nice as well.'**_

"But your trainer wouldn't know that." He told her. "So we'll leave you to your job. Maybe we'll see your trainer at some point and get to battle with you."

' _ **I hope not. I don't like fighting all that much.'**_ She shook her head, fluffing her cloud tail slightly. ' _ **But if I need to, then I guess I will.'**_

' _ **That's a good attitude to have.'**_ Crimson beamed. ' _ **Too many mons like fighting for my tastes. It's refreshing to see one that doesn't like to, but will if she needs to.'**_

' _ **True.'**_ Bolt agreed. ' _ **Come on Crimson, let's leave her be. Ash is right about her trainer.'**_

' _ **Sure.'**_ The Fire type nodded, turning back to her trainer, and waved at the Vulpix. ' _ **Hopefully we'll see you again. Keep safe.'**_

' _ **I will.'**_ She waved a paw back, smiling. Ash and his team began walking away, though the boy lingered at the back of the group for a few moments, looking worriedly at the small Pokemon, before Misty called for him and he ran forward. Vulpix watched them go, a sad look on her face. ' _ **Bye bye nice trainer. Please keep treating your Pokemon well.'**_ She lay back down and curled up, missing the way the Pikachu's ears pricked up at the statement.

* * *

A few minutes down the road, the entire group came to a halt.

"So, what do you think of that?" Ash asked, looking around. Since Mia had been whispering a translation of the entire conversation to the two humans, they knew what had been said.

"I'm worried, but I don't think we could do anything." Misty sighed. Brock frowned, nodding.

"A trainer is technically within their rights to leave their Pokemon unattended." He informed them. "Even if the Pokemon got hurt, they didn't do anything illegal leaving them alone for a while. If they're left for days, it would then count as abandoning the Pokemon and the trainer can be arrested for that, assuming the Pokemon wasn't released."

"I have never realised how complex the law is on Pokemon." Mia blinked. _Maybe I_ should _have just gotten caught by a nice trainer and worked with them._

' _ **There's something else you might want to know.'**_ Bolt piped up, causing everyone to look at him while Mia translated. ' _ **When we walked off, the Vulpix said something else. It was kinda quiet, and I only barely heard it, but she said goodbye, and asked you to keep treating your Pokemon well.'**_ Bolt tapped Ash on the side of the head. The group was silent for a minute, frowning.

"I want to go back there and get her." Ash growled.

"I'd agree, but we can't do anything without actual hard proof, and if we tried to take her anywhere we'd likely get accused of stealing." Brock reasoned. "We can't do anything about it." Mia growled slightly, sounding rather like the Beasts that she was good friends with, and Fushin looked up from her feet in surprise. Oddish hopped off her trainer's shoulder to stand by her friend, whispering something to him. He nodded, looking proudly at Oddish, before speaking.

' _ **Here's an idea.'**_ The group turned to him. ' _ **We could leave a fast Pokemon with Vulpix to look after her, and have them run to get us if something happened.'**_

"I think Arch could do it." Mia volunteered. "He's pretty fast, and while Pidgeotto aren't exactly common, they're not a rare sight in the wild. Good idea Oddish." Taking a Pokeball from her belt, she released the bird Pokemon.

' _ **Sup Mia?'**_ He greeted, stretching.

"Hey Arch." She reached over, patting his head. "I need you to do something for me."

' _ **Sure.'**_

"There's a Vulpix sitting on a rock over there. She says she has a trainer, but he's left her there to look after something while he's gone. All of us suspect foul play, so we thought we should leave a fast Pokemon with her. If her trainer comes, you can leave, but if something happens you come and get us."

' _ **Sure, I can do that for you.'**_ He spread his wings, getting ready for takeoff.

"Oh, and before you go, she's a special kind of Vulpix. The Pokedex called her an Alolan Form, but I don't know what that is. She's a snowy white, with a puff of fur on her head that looks like a cloud. Her tail's the same."

' _ **Right, special Vulpix, find it and look after it, got it.'**_ He nodded, sweeping his wings down to take off. ' _ **I'll see you later.'**_ Soaring over the forest, he circled a few times before heading towards Cerulean again.

"Now that's done, Brock, where are we?" Misty looked at the darker boy, who took out a map.

"There's a Pokemon Center about a mile away, so we can head to that." The group agreed, and started walking south again, the trainers picking up their respective Grass types as they did.

* * *

Vulpix had been dozing in the sun for a few minutes, thinking about the four trainers that had just left, when the sound of beating wings made her jump. Her first instinct was to run into the bushes, in case it was an attacker, but her trainer also had a Fearow, and it might be him returning. Just in case, however, she prepared an Icy Wind, ready to use it to buy herself time to get away. When a Pidgeotto landed next to her, she almost fired her attack and ran, but stopped, realising it hadn't moved to attack her, just look at her.

' _ **You're an odd Pokemon.'**_ He commented, looking over her. She blushed, hiding her face in her paws. ' _ **That's not a bad thing, but what're you doing out here on your own?'**_

' _ **My trainer needed to get some stuff, so he left me here to look after something while he was gone.'**_ She said, relaxing slightly.

' _ **Huh.'**_ He scoffed. ' _ **Sounds irresponsible to me. Then again, I suppose some people might say the same about my trainer. She lets me fly off whenever I want, so long as I'm back before sunset.'**_

' _ **Who's your trainer? And how do you find them?'**_ Vulpix cocked her head, curious.

' _ **I find them by looking for good camping grounds from the air. Plus, there's normally quite a few Pokemon out and around them, so I just look for a massive group on or by the road.'**_ He told her. ' _ **And my trainer's name is Mia. I'm Arch, by the way. Do you have a name?'**_

' _ **No. My trainer just calls me Vulpix. I don't remember if my family gave me a name.'**_ Arch stretched out a wing, patting her on the back.

' _ **That's a shame. Well, I've got nothing better to do and about three hours to spare. Mind if I hang about?'**_

' _ **No, I don't mind.'**_ Vulpix shook her head negative. ' _ **Maybe you could tell me more about your trainer?'**_

* * *

 ***Two and a half hours later.***

* * *

"I hope Arch's ok…" Mia said, looking out the window. The group was sitting in the Pokemon Center, with Ash and Bolt looking at his Pokedex, Misty was using a laptop she'd borrowed from Brock to look at movesets for Oddish, since she didn't have a Pokedex and needed to know more, while Brock was reading quietly from an orange book in the corner. Crimson and Fushin were in their Pokeballs, while Oddish was sitting on Misty's lap to look at the computer screen.

"He'll be fine." Misty assured her, glancing up. "He's plenty powerful, and you let him do this all the time."

"But not normally on a mission to protect a Pokemon." She pointed out. "Plus, it looks like there's a storm coming. He won't be able to fly if he gets caught in that, and if something were to happen…" Inwardly, Mia was weighing the advantages of heading to the bathroom, transforming, going invisible, leaving through a window and using Sunny Day to clear the weather. Admittedly it would only last half an hour and she'd mess up the weather patterns slightly, but if it kept her Pokemon and the little Vulpix safe, then she'd do it in a heartbeat.

"Mia, have some faith in your Pokemon." Ash told her. "Arch'll be fine. Don't you trust him?"

"I do, it's just…" She trailed off in a frustrated groan. "Right, I'm going to the bathroom. If something comes up while I'm gone, tell me please." The Mew left her seat, slipping through the door just as a group of boys came walking in, talking loudly.

"Oh great." Misty almost face planted onto the table, but managed to restrain herself. "A group of really loud, slightly obnoxious boys."

"We can leave to our rooms in a minute." Ash offered. "If there's going to be a storm, there's no way I'm leaving. We'll wait for Mia and Arch to get back, then head upstairs and away."

"We could go up when Mia gets back and sit on the roof. It'll be easier for Arch to find us then." Brock recommended.

"I can deal with that." Before any of them could add anything else, one of the boys seated at the table two behind them laughed.

"Damn, Damian, that's one hell of a story!" He announced loudly. "How'd that even happen?"

"I told you already, that silly Pokemon got in the way." Another boy with blue hair and sunglasses, likely Damian, answered. "I don't even know why I bought that thing."

"Where'd you get it from?"

"An old friend of mine called me up one day and asked if I wanted this Vulpix." At this, Ash and his group stiffened slightly. However, all three continued looking at what they were previously doing, in order to avoid being caught eavesdropping on the group. "So I took it off his hands, since it's a weird type of Vulpix and I reckoned it might be pretty powerful. But no, it's practically useless."

"Where is it now?" A third boy asked.

"I gave it a crystal that I got with the Pokemon that doesn't do anything and told it that the crystal was really important, and I needed it to protect it while I went to get some things, then left it on a rock." He scoffed. "It's probably still there now." Ash froze for a moment, almost growling in rage, but typed quickly onto his Pokedex.

"Hey Brock, Misty," He said quietly, bringing their attention to him. "I'm gonna go get Arch. If Mia asks, say I went to go make sure he knew where we were, since he wouldn't know we were going to the Center."

"Sure thing." Both nodded, with Brock going back to his book. Misty went to look back at the computer, with Oddish sitting in her lap, but Ash gently took her wrist, making her look up.

"Feel free to scan Oddish with my Pokedex. I don't know if it'll say anything about her current abilities, but it'll at least do better with moves sets. I should have offered earlier, so sorry about that."

"No problem." She gladly took the Pokedex from the boy as he and Bolt stood to head outside. Looking down to figure out where the scan option was, having never used a Pokedex before, she noticed what was on the screen currently and gasped. "Brock." The dark trainer put his book face down and leaned over, looking over her shoulder.

"What's up…?" He read the screen as well. _Don't tell Mia what Damian said. There will be blood if you do. I'll deal with it later/tomorrow. Seriously. When she gets back, head upstairs as soon as you can. Trust me on this one. I'll explain to you later on, maybe with Mia. Sorry._ Both shared a worried look, and the door to the bathroom opened, Mia walked over to them with a faint smile. Hurriedly, Misty deleted the message and looked over the Pokedex, while Brock practically dove for his book and put it in his bag.

"Hey guys." She grinned. "Where'd Ash and Bolt go?"

"They went to go get Arch." Misty replied, returning the smile. "Ash realised that Arch didn't know we were in the Pokemon Center, and he didn't want him to get lost."

"He could have at least waited for me." She frowned. "Oh well. Should we just wait for him then?"

"Actually, I'd like you to give me a hand with this." The redhead held up the borrowed Pokedex, smiling sheepishly. "I don't know how it works, and I'd like to use it to take a look at Oddish. The computer's a little hard to work with."

"Sure." Sitting next to the other girl, she took the Pokedex from her hands.

"I'll take my laptop back then, since there's something I want to check out as well." Brock added, pulling the computer over. As they started their own projects, both Misty and Brock were silently chanting _don't start talking, don't start talking, we don't want Mia to explode._ Thankfully, the group in the corner remained quiet, milling about for a few minutes.

* * *

While Misty and Brock panicked about Mia overhearing something that would likely doom them all, though they didn't know it, Ash was sprinting for the trees with Bolt in tow.

' _ **Why're we going this way?'**_ The Pokemon called.

' _Because I'm dropping my human form and flying, that's why!'_ He telepathed back, passing the treeline.

' _ **Why?'**_

' _It's faster.'_ He said simply, before changing form in a small tornado of bubbles. Picking up Bolt in his psychic grip, unsteady as it was, he went straight up until he was high enough that the two wouldn't be seen, then started flying in the direction of Arch and Vulpix. ' _I don't get as tired flying like this, so it's better than running. I'll probably have to run back anyway, so I might as well fly.'_

' _ **What about Vulpix!?'**_ He called back, over the rushing wind. ' _ **She doesn't know, remember?!'**_

' _Pretty much don't care, to be honest. I'll land away from them and transform again, but I wouldn't object too much to them seeing me in this form.'_

' _ **You are too reckless.'**_ Bolt muttered, unheard over the wind. Within a few minutes, they landed near to the rock they'd seen Vulpix on earlier, and a second bubble tornado signalled Ash swapping back again. Bolt was let out of the grip and dropped to the floor, immediately running out into the clearing, heedless of the storm gathering above. ' _ **Arch!'**_

' _ **Hey Bolt.'**_ The bird returned lazily, glancing over. ' _ **What're you doing here?'**_

"We came to get you and Vulpix." Ash told him, walking out from the bushes.

' _ **Why?'**_ The little white Pokemon asked quietly. ' _ **I need to wait for my trainer!'**_

"If you're trainer's as nice as you say he is, I doubt he'd want you out here in the rain. You might get sick." Ash argued, sitting down. "What's your trainer's name, anyway?"

' _ **Damian.'**_ She answered. ' _ **And he**_ **is** _ **nice! Not always, and not really to me, but he's nice to us when we're strong! That's why I'm here! Because I'm strong and he wanted to reward me by showing he could trust me!'**_

"Vulpix…" Ash said sadly. "I'm sorry to say this, but Damian's a liar."

' _ **What? How could you say that? You've never met him!'**_ The little Pokemon was outraged, and the air around them chilled slightly.

"I…" Ash frowned, weighing the options he had. Sighing, he gave up. "Let me show you."

' _ **What do you mean?'**_ She tilted her head, confused.

"I'm not very good, but I can share memories telepathically." He explained. "We were in the Pokemon Center when we overheard a group of trainers coming in. One of them was called Damian, and he mentioned that he'd taken a weird kind of Vulpix from an old friend and when he'd found out that it was useless, he left it with a crystal he'd found that didn't do anything and told it to stay on a rock, then left. He didn't plan to come back."

' _ **No… no, you're lying!'**_ Vulpix leapt up, yelling. ' _ **Damian's a nice person! He wouldn't do that!'**_

' _ **He's telling the truth, Vulpix.'**_ Bolt said sadly. ' _ **Damian was lying to you.'**_

"Let me show you." Focusing carefully, Ash called up his memories of the events in the Pokemon Center, and attempted to show her telepathically what had happened. A few seconds later, Vulpix was staring at the rock she stood on, tearing up.

' _ **He… really didn't want me…'**_ She cried. ' _ **I want to go home.'**_

"What do you mean?" Ash asked, confused.

' _ **Damian bought me off a mean man that took me from home. Damian was nice to me, and I wanted to impress him, but I guess I wasn't good enough.'**_ Ash's blood was boiling.

 _I really don't want to tell this to Mia._ He gulped. _She'd probably turn this guy to dust. Then bring him back and torture him in a Mew Game for all eternity._ All three Pokemon looked worriedly at the Mew hybrid, who was shaking and pale.

"Right, let's go to the Pokemon Center." Vulpix curled up.

' _ **No! We might run into Damian, and he'd think you're trying to steal me!'**_

"Then you could hide in my bag or wait outside." Then Ash blinked, reaching for his bag. "Hang on a tic. Do you know if he released you?"

' _ **There was a red light when I was released earlier.'**_ She admitted.

"Then you're no longer his Pokemon, and I can catch you instead." He offered. "He can't complain even if I don't and just take you to the Center, since officially he's not your trainer."

' _ **I'd rather come with you.'**_ She said quickly. ' _ **Then I can hide from him.'**_

"Alright. First, where's that crystal you were given earlier?" He looked around. "You might not be able to take it with you if I catch you."

' _ **It's right here.'**_ Shifting her tails, Vulpix pulled a little crystal from underneath. It was mostly pale pink, with a little black mark in the centre. ' _ **I don't know what it is.'**_

"Well, it looks cool. I'll put it in my bag, and we'll try and find out what it is for you." Ash carefully put it in a small pocket, taking out a Pokeball as he did. Offering it to Vulpix, she smiled, then tapped it with a paw. It didn't even struggle once before it clicked. Releasing her again, she shook herself, then looked confusedly at Ash. "We're walking back anyway, so I thought you might want to be outside."

' _ **Thank you.'**_ She bounced down next to him, smiling.

"Now you need a name, since all of my team has nicknames."

' _ **So Arch, and Bolt, right?'**_

' _ **Yeah, but like I said, Ash isn't my trainer. His cousin, Mia, has the same ideas though.'**_ Arch told her.

"How about Snowdrop?" Ash asked. "You look kinda like an Ice type."

' _ **Don't you have your Pokedex?'**_ Arch questioned. ' _ **Just scan her.'**_

' _ **Misty's got the Pokedex at the moment. She's using it to look at Oddish.'**_ Bolt replied.

' _ **I like that name.'**_ The newly named Snowdrop smiled. ' _ **Thank you.'**_

"No problem. Now, should we get a move on?" He put his arm down, letting Bolt jump up, before picking up Snowdrop and standing. "Arch, I assume you'll be flying alongside us?"

' _ **Yep. We'll need to make it fast, though. There's a storm coming, and I'd hate to get caught in it.'**_ Arch shot a miserable look at the sky, already clouded over.

"You could just fly on a little ahead of us, if you'd like." Ash offered. "If the idea of being stuck in a storm annoys you that much."

' _ **Nah, I'll hang about with you.'**_ Arch shuffled his wings. ' _ **Anyway, let's get a move on. I'd like to be back some time this century.'**_

' _ **Yeah, we don't have the time to spare when it comes to centuries.'**_ Bolt joked, nudging Ash with his tail.

"Ha ha. Very funny you two. I'm so glad Mom isn't here right now…" He murmured, trailing off with a sigh.

' _ **Won't you need to explain to Mia what happened in the Pokemon Center when we get back, since we have Snowdrop here?'**_ Arch asked.

"Yes. Then I'll need to restrain her from going and vaporizing Damian." He deadpanned.

' _ **Why would she do that?'**_

"Because Mia's a mad woman when it comes to Pokemon."

' _ **Well, she does have a good reason.'**_ Bolt argued. ' _ **After all, it was her job-'**_

' _ **Bolt boy, hold it for later. We don't need to explain to Snowdrop when anyone could hear us.'**_ Arch lightly slapped Bolt with his wing, having banked downwards slightly to do so, and almost knocked him down.

"Arch, calm down." Ash sighed. "Seriously, we'll deal with that stuff when we get back." The rest of the walk passed mostly in silence, with Arch occasionally flying ahead, before circling back to them and repeating the circuit. Snowdrop fidgeted in his arms a little, and he glanced down. "What's up?"

' _ **Nothing.'**_ She responded quickly. ' _ **I'm just a little worried. What do you mean that you'll need to stop Mia from vaporizing Damian?'**_

"It's not all that important." Ash told her. "We'll deal with it when we get back."

' _ **Speaking of which, let's head back a little faster, yeah?'**_ Bolt asked. ' _ **I know we can go faster than this.'**_

"Fine." Ash picked up his pace, moving almost at a run, but Arch still continued doing his loops around them. "I just don't want to run into Damian is all."

' _ **Well, I guess that's fair.'**_ Bolt gave, nodding. ' _ **Still, the sooner we get back, the less likely Mia is to explode when she figures it out. Or reads Misty's mind, or Brocks.'**_

"That's also a good argument." The orange roof of the building came into sight, and he smiled. "So, let's head back to my 'cousin', shall we?" Arch nodded, hovering just over the building, and his eyes widened as the door opened and a blue haired boy walked out.

 _That's that kid!_ His eyes narrowed into a glare as the boys group walked out behind him, and Ash stopped at the top of the hill to listen in.

"...So you really don't want that thing back?"

"Course not." Damian scoffed, rolling his eyes. "It's useless, just like that crystal from before. I'll just leave it to itself. Why should I care what happens to it? I released it anyway, so no one could say I've done something illegal." He shrugged, leading the way as the group walked down the road. Three of the listeners were shaking in anger, while the last was looking down with tears in her eyes.

' _ **It's true.'**_ Snowdrop whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks. ' _ **I didn't doubt it, since you showed me that memory, but…'**_ Ash hugged her close, walking down to the door to the Center. The doors opened, and Ash was greeted to the sight of Mia standing stock still right in front of him, looking out the door. Ash would have thought that she was simply waiting for him, if it weren't for the fact that he knew his parent Pokemon well, and could easily see her blue eyes. They were flickering red, literally ablaze with a flame.

 _Oooohhh sshhhooot._ He put on a friendly grin, hoping to defuse the incoming storm of a situation. "Hey Mia! Sorry I just vanished, I went to go get Arch!"

"Why do you have Vulpix with you then?" All four gulped; her tone was more icy than the mountains in Sinnoh.

"Oh, I thought it would be better to have her come to the Pokemon Center, since it looks like a storm and I didn't want her to get sick." Behind the pink haired Pokemon in disguise, Misty and Brock were coming over to the door as well.

"Oh really?" She looked sceptical. "Are you sure it's not because that _useless stain of a trainer Damian_ decided to abandon her, and you got wind of it?" Now there was acid in her tone as well, and she was glaring after the blue haired trainer.

"I might have done." Ash admitted, hoping to defuse her that way.

"Arch, return." The bird looked disgruntled as he vanished into the Pokeball. "Ash, you're coming with me, and we're hunting that kid down!"

"What're you going to do?" Ash sweatdropped, backing up ever so slightly.

"I'm going to kick his butt, then throw him to space, then call Rayquaza to send him back down, then liquidise him and throw him INTO THE SUN!" She looked slightly deranged, and both their travelling companions were backing away as well.

"Don't you think that's a little overkill?" Misty asked timidly, reminding the other girl that they were there. The pink haired volcano let out a slow, weary breath, and Ash watched the raging fire in her eyes calm slightly before she turned.

"Maybe, but I have a list of things that drive me mad. Very close to the top of that list are people who abandon Pokemon. Also on there are thieves, hunters, abusers, and poachers, not necessarily in that order, but poachers are at the top of the list."

' _ **Still, that seems pretty harsh.'**_ Snowdrop offered, before curling up slightly again.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I must have scared you." Mia, now acting more like a mom, crouched down to look at the smaller Pokemon. "My name's Mia. I'm Ash's cousin."

' _ **Arch mentioned that his trainer was called Mia.'**_ Snowdrop nodded. ' _ **I guessed that was you when you returned him.'**_

"Yep. Sorry about just now, I guess it could have been a little upsetting."

' _ **Not really.'**_ She said sadly. ' _ **Ash showed me what happened earlier, and we all heard what Damian said when he left. It's a little upsetting, but I'll deal with it.'**_ She looked down, stuffing her face into Ash's arms. Mia raised an eyebrow at the boy, who carefully shrugged.

"I caught her when I offered to bring her with me. Damian officially released her so no one could press anything against him for neglecting his Pokemon."

"That's low." She spat, frowning. Ash quickly moved to defuse her again.

"True, but we won't get anything now. We should report this to Professor Oak in the morning, when we ask about Alolan Pokemon, and we'll likely get a chance to battle him anyway." Ash told her.

' _ **Damian was doing that Pokemon League, so you might see him then if you are too.'**_ Snowdrop mentioned.

"See? He'll get what he deserves." He promised.

"Fine. I can deal with that." Patting the Vulpix on the head gently, Mia asked another question. "So, how'd you end up with him?"

' _ **Damian bought me from some guys. I think they were friends. Before that, I was wild, but got caught by that pair that sold me to Damian. I think they might have caught my Meema's before, but I never saw them.'**_ Mia twitched. ' _ **Is something wrong?'**_

"Remember I said I hate people who abandon Pokemon?" She checked. "Like I said, also on that list of people that tick me off are thieves, hunters, abusers, and poachers. While I've no way to prove the first three, those guys are almost definitely poachers." Mia scowled. "I really don't want to wait for the Pokemon League to beat this guy."

"Well, you're gonna have to." Ash told her firmly. "We don't have anything we can do to him now, but we can publically beat him in the League."

"I knew there was a reason I liked you, cousin." Mia winked. "I'm going to head to sleep. The sooner I do, the sooner we can talk to Oak and bust Damian." The pink haired girl spun, heading straight for the stairs. Misty and Brock hung about a moment, trading a glance.

"I now see why you didn't want to her find out." The older boy observed.

"Honestly, we're lucky I managed to talk her out of it." Ash shuddered. "I've never found out why she hates poachers so much more than the others in that list, and I don't intend to. I'm going to leave her to her hate list, and hope I can talk her out of doing something rash." With two Pokemon still outside, he headed up as well. "I'd recommend you come up as well." As the black-blue haired boy disappeared, both older trainers blinked.

"I'm staying on her good side." Both said together, worried.

"I hate to think what she'd do to poachers if that was her reaction to something 'lower' on her list." Misty noted.

"Well, no reason to keep standing about." Brock replied. "You might want to give Ash his Pokedex back."

"True." The final two trainers left as well, both extremely worried about their friend, and the state she was in.

Hopefully she didn't snap.

* * *

 **AN: Now, I would finish this with the talk to Oak, but I'm going to save that for next chapter. Now, if you're wondering about the delay, before anyone else gets here, I'll just tell you I got a little sidetracked with a 32,000 word personal project, and I procrastinated CoM for a while because I wanted to finish that. The good news is that I'm on holiday now, so you might get the next chapters a little earlier, depending on how much work I get done.**

 **K: We'll do our best to keep her working.**

 **P: I think you mean WE. *Motioning to herself and Trixie.* YOU just got her interested in Naruto and caused some of that procrastination.**

 **K: Technically speaking, that was also Darky who did that.**

 **T: Details. Anyway, there's actually an easter egg (Haha, how well timed) in this chapter, and about four people will get it. If you do, you may have a cookie if you leave a review with what the easter egg is.**

 **P: Also, feel free to play a guessing game as to what the little crystal was. Hint; it's not what you'd expect. Probably.**

 **SV: Pix, stop it. Anyway, have a good easter if you celebrate it, since that's this weekend, and we'll see you soon! Theoretically.**


	17. Announcement

Hey team, ShadowVulpix here!

Man, spring seems to just screw with my mental state. I hate doing this again, but I swear that new years and spring mess with my head. Sorry to say that I'm taking a hiatus. I know, after all the waits you guys go through, the only thing I give you is more. Please let me explain before you go on an angry review spree.

The main reason I'm doing this is because I've been pretty demotivated recently. I despise it, since it's spread to my schoolwork too, but things happen. Things got very stressful very fast, and I need a break from being pulled in a thousand directions at once to focus. Giving myself a break from writing at a hurried pace will help, I hope, and it should give me time to work properly.

In the next few months, I've got a ton of exams coming, and in June I'm heading off to Germany for a week. It's not a long trip, but it'll be a week away from the computer and unable to write, and I don't want to have to force out chapters. For the most part, the break is to give myself time to focus, plan ahead, and get through everything else going on. I'll get some chapters backed up and ready, hopefully good ones, and I'll be able to keep quality high without needing another break too soon.

Another point is that I'll be taking some time to rewrite some of the original New Beginnings chapters. Even though it was only a year and a half ago, I cringe at my writing from before and I need to fix it. Nothing major to be changed, mostly, but it's to get that fic to the standard the newest chapters of everything else are working at.

For a bit of good news, I can say that when summer comes around, I'll be able to try and get more chapters out, since I'll be on break and have more time to write. Of course, sometimes holidays cause me to procrastinate everything, but I'm doing my damndest to get out of the slump and back to work.

The main issue has been the side projects I'm working on. One of my problems in writing is that I sometimes get to a point where I have an idea for later in the fic, and I have to write them out now or I'll get into trouble later. One example of this is the mentioned 32,000 word 'chapter' that I wrote out in two weeks during March/April. I'm not saying anything, but that was part of the reason everything was late last month. I honestly shouldn't make excuses, but I wanted to tell you guys that.

Drawing a bit away from the announcements and into more general stuff, I recently got slightly obsessed with Naruto, and... might have started work on a little project that might get uploaded someday. Keep those hopes down, three stories is bad enough, but it will come, and I will not let it drain my workload.

Onto current story related stuff, there's a poll about Child of Mew, giving Misty a Dewpider. Originally, the plan was a Surskit, but with Sun and Moon giving a Bug/Water type that stayed Bug/Water I couldn't help but change it. If no wins, however, I'll leave her with a Surskit. Maybe I'll move Dewpider to Guardians, if it's close enough. There's a ton of plot stuff going down in both Guardians and Second Start, while Child of Mew is getting there much slower, mostly because of the organisation I have for it. Hopefully the filler style stuff won't bore you to death before the fun starts. I promise, it _will_ get fun.

Other than that, I think that's it. If there's any questions about what's happening, leave a review or PM me, and I'll PM you back a response, assuming I can without giving things away. I'll likely see you back in July, maybe August at a push, but I'll do my best to make it worth the wait. Again, sorry about the break, and I'll see you all then.

Shadow.


	18. Update!

Hey again guys.

Right, first off, the updates. I've done very little writing over the past few months, due to a lack of time from exams and spending some time without a stable internet connection. Because of this, updates might not come for a while.

Starting in September, updates for everything will be sporadic at best, since I'll be starting my last year of the GCSE course, and will be spending a lot of time focusing on that. I'm very sorry about this fact, but school work has to come first in this case. Suffice to say that I won't be abandoning any of my stories, but all updates will be slow. You might not get an update for Child of Mew for a while, but get two for Guardians of Power, for example. It'll depend on my mood and how much spare time I have.

Again, I'm very sorry about this, but it has to be done.

Sincerely, ShadowVulpix.


End file.
